Design / UX: Specialists vs Generalists — What’s Better? Here’s the truth

Video version of this article:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf0wVeq3uXM

When I’m out teaching, I frequently get asked “What’s better? To be a jack of all trades designer, or someone that specializes in one specific area of UX? Should I be a full-stack designer? A Unicorn? What do all of these terms even mean?”

Ignore all of the dumb terms for a moment and let’s focus on the real question: Should I focus on being good at one thing, or should I try to be good at all things? Is it even possible to be equally good at all parts of the design process?

So what’s the answer? Is it better to be a specialist or generalist?

The design field is a lot like the medical field: For the first few years of the path to becoming a doctor, you get “Basic training”, or a general education of the body and its functions. After this general education, many doctors decide to just stick to being generalists — also called “General Practitioners”(I’m aware that this is grossly simplified).

Being a general practitioner is sufficient for most cases. However, sometimes you need deeper knowledge to solve very specific problems. For these cases, some doctors go on and study a…