Angie Wang (here) had wrote about a simple difference between Specialist and generalist
Generalist: one who has a preference for and focuses on breadth of knowledge
Specialist: one who has a preference for and focuses on depth of knowledge
It is clear that, in any fields, we have top generalists and low-level generalists (the same is true for specialists). But the question is
When should I ask specialists to consulting and when should I ask generalists, And when does it make sense to use both?
From my point of view
It is better to ask generlists first, then after getting a general view of the problem, you could choose the best related specialist.
For example, you may ask a JAVA specialist to write a platform for your company blog! This may costs $30000 for the platform and $500 monthly for maintenance! Afterall, you may have many SEO, Typo, … problem. Now, consider another option: You ask a web generalist and he says that it is better to use WP. Then you talk to a WP specialist and he said, it costs only $500 at all! also, there is not any SEO, Typo, .. problem at all (check the image above).
If you have some knoledge in Optimization, AI or Math, you may have heard about Local Optima vs. Global Optima.
I you ask specialists at the beginning, you may trap into local optimal.
