Being a T-Shaped Human
As a designer in the tech world, I hear the term “T-shaped” a lot. The phrase was coined by Ideo and represents a talent in one area with a respectable amount of knowledge in others. Though it’s prevalent in the workspace, how does it apply to your life? What does it mean to have one great skill in the entirety of your life with a competency in others? It’s tough to decipher.
Being talented in one area of your career can be wildly beneficial. For instance, if you’re a killer developer, you’re most likely doing really well. However, you may lack in design sense. You may not recognize the nuances of interfaces that make them great. However, you do know what, generally, looks good and what doesn’t on a macro level. Thus, you tend to swing UI in the direction of good. You may even have a knack for copy writing as you work on a working prototype. This makes you a “T-shaped”. Having this term for yourself is often positive for your career.
However, when you zoom out from your career and into your life, the model begins to lose credit as being successful. Let’s go back to the same developer. This person kills it. They’re at a blossoming tech company with slides and and smoothie bar. He works a lot, but makes a shit ton of money. His 401k is pretty much set after a few years of employment. If he somehow was out of a job, he could get a new one almost instantly–and earn the same salary. Maybe, though, his career is all he does. He only loves to code and dabbles in minor side avenues. He maybe surfs a bit. He’s also into building computers. And maybe, that’s where the “T” stops.
When a person is so infatuated in one area of life, his or her energy is strained and maxed in that direction. Thus, without the removal of attention on the subject, other aspects in life will be shunned. So, what if we made a new term for when we’re not working? Maybe, we’re more “O-shaped”. Right? I mean, if we start in the center, we prod out in every direction. It can be family, travel, health, friends, career, hobbies, etc. So when you think about your center, and where you poke out, your center expands into a more rounded shape.
Personally, I want to be the latter of the shapes. I want to explore many different things in life–not always equally, but at least see if it interests me. There have been many people who’ve done the former and have had great success in life. But often, success doesn’t guarantee happiness.
