Marcus Doran   Dec 07 2012   Flag

The first time I ran into the concept of a 'T-shaped' employee was reading the Valve Employee Handbook -

http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf

I highly recommend reading that handbook for anyone who is interested in learning about unusual work environments and how some companies think about hiring.

Ed Fry   Dec 07 2012   Flag

Love the Valve Employee handbook :)

First time I came across a "T-man" was from my Dad! He works in logistics and "defence science" (I don't know either...) which means he runs around the country talking to various people about logistical things. It's interesting talking to him about things I come across (auto-mated warehousing talks on TED, pictures of Amazon warehouses, cool defence/aerospace stuff) and you'll get a mixed reaction. From "hmmm... not really my thing" all the way to "I've just got back from a conference where we were discussing just that, and here are the issues". It give me an insight into how really big organisations work (or don't work!), where often there are only a handful of people who really understand the issue but they're working with dozens, even hundreds of other people on the same project.

Marcus Doran   Dec 07 2012   Flag

I think you've just given us some insight into why you've been so successful at a young age.  Your dad sounds like quite the resource to have in-house.

Adam Lundquist   Dec 07 2012   Flag

Excellent article. I had actually not come across this before. There is such a multitude of things to learn it can be completely overwhelming. Thanks for posting this