What are T Shaped People?

One idea that’s big in the world of Agile that should be big throughout Project Management is that of T Shaped People.

So, in this video, I will answer the question 'What are T Shaped People?'

People with niche skills - depth in one topic only, and little else by way of skills, are like a verticle line: deep and narrow.

Others have a broad range of skills, but no great depth of knowledge or experience in any of them.

But T Shaped People have both depth and breadth.

Philip Tetlock adopted the metaphor of the Hedgehog and Fox.
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

But T Shaped people have the best of both worlds.

And then there is a T Shaped Team...
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- Combining T Shaped People adds depth across a broader range – and even greater breadth.
- In turn, this makes teams more self-sufficient and better able to act autonomously within the overall goal, objectives, and plan.
- You'll have less reliance on a single person who knows about everything – if most people do
- Also, larger, self-organizing teams can lead to less silo-ing.
- And finally, you'll get less key person risk – non-experts have enough base knowledge to help out at pressure points.

For more videos about Agile Project Management:
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What is Agile Project Management?

What is Scrum?

What is Kanban?

What is Lean Project Management?

What is Scrumban?

What is Planning Poker?

What is the Cone of Uncertainty?

What is a Minimum Viable Product - MVP?

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#TShapedPeople

[WorDouglas]

This is well explained - always like you work and effots you and team put into each learning resource - please keep up the work!

[alvshill]

I've just come across this term in a presentation at work, and I couldn't have hoped to find a better, bite-sized explanation. Excellently done. Thank you Mr Clayton!

[salvn]

This is great, thank you. It's even better when played at 1.25x speed!

[cherylreynolds]

Just an added environmental detail: foxes live all across the US. Saw one just last night crossing the road.

[aown]

Perfect explanation..it is very valuable concept.

[james.vanmaanenberg]

Your vocal cadence was difficult for me - so. many. pauses.