I have to disagree with your lens of the week. Preference and expertise are not the same. Just because I like Rust and monorepos doesn’t mean that I actually have significant experience with them and can articulate the pros and cons. Often I find the opposite with the generalists. They have opinions based on experience and are able to adapt those experiences to other situations. Given a green field, they know what has worked in the past and are able to use that as a starting point, but that doesn’t mea that they are an expert. That’s a different skill
It's a good point that preference and expertise are not the same. Our goal was not to imply that they were. We were trying to make a slightly different point, one which we could have been more explicit about, which is that people generally prefer to work on the areas where they have more expertise.
It is also true, as you note, that having a preference doesn't mean that someone no longer will consider what it best in the given circumstance. Rather, I see it as given the opportunity, people will generally go with their preference when it's a reasonable option.
To use an analogy, if I prefer brownies as a dessert option, then given the opportunity, I will choose a brownie for dessert. However, saying that doesn't mean that I don't have the ability to not choose a brownie for breakfast.
I have to disagree with your lens of the week. Preference and expertise are not the same. Just because I like Rust and monorepos doesn’t mean that I actually have significant experience with them and can articulate the pros and cons. Often I find the opposite with the generalists. They have opinions based on experience and are able to adapt those experiences to other situations. Given a green field, they know what has worked in the past and are able to use that as a starting point, but that doesn’t mea that they are an expert. That’s a different skill
It's a good point that preference and expertise are not the same. Our goal was not to imply that they were. We were trying to make a slightly different point, one which we could have been more explicit about, which is that people generally prefer to work on the areas where they have more expertise.
It is also true, as you note, that having a preference doesn't mean that someone no longer will consider what it best in the given circumstance. Rather, I see it as given the opportunity, people will generally go with their preference when it's a reasonable option.
To use an analogy, if I prefer brownies as a dessert option, then given the opportunity, I will choose a brownie for dessert. However, saying that doesn't mean that I don't have the ability to not choose a brownie for breakfast.