Two years ago, 90% of our engineers were deeply specialized. Each person was a true expert in their field, whether it was backend, Android, or frontend development. And while their expertise ran deep, we started noticing cracks in this approach. Workloads weren’t balanced. One week, the Android team was overwhelmed, while backend engineers waited for tasks. The next week, it was the opposite. We had the expertise, but we were missing the flexibility.
So, we tried something new. About a year and a half ago, we asked some of our Flutter developers to help build an Android-native app. Paired with experienced Android specialists, they quickly got up to speed, the product quality stayed high, and the team was excited to be learning something fresh. This small experiment got the ball rolling on a bigger idea—transitioning from specialists to T-shaped developers, who could maintain their core expertise but also contribute across different parts of the stack.
Today, over 80% of our team has expanded into new areas, and our workflow has become smoother, faster, and far more adaptable. Here’s how T-shaped developers have transformed our team’s agility, making flexible, cross-functional collaboration essential to our success
The benefits of T-shaped developers for agile teams
A T-shaped developer has a primary area of expertise—something they’ve mastered over years of experience. But they also possess a foundational understanding across various technologies, enabling them to step in where needed and contribute across the stack. Here’s why this flexibility matters and the specific benefits we’ve seen from transitioning to a T-shaped model.
Enhanced flexibility and cross-functional collaboration
With T-shaped developers, the team gains flexibility, allowing each developer to pitch in across the stack as needed. This reduces bottlenecks and helps even out the workload. For instance, if a feature requires updates to both the backend and frontend, any developer with basic backend skills can contribute to adjustments instead of waiting for a backend specialist to become available. This fluidity accelerates the delivery of features and reduces idle time across the team.
One of the biggest changes I’ve observed is how cross-functional teams become truly collaborative. With specialists, work is often siloed by technology, creating dependencies. But when T-shaped developers are involved, those silos begin to dissolve, and the team can respond more effectively to changing demands. The whole group adapts seamlessly, especially in startups or fast-paced environments where team members must be ready to handle diverse challenges.
The best of both worlds: expertise and versatility
When building T-shaped teams, it’s crucial to maintain expertise without losing flexibility. One misconception is that T-shaped developers lack depth, but in reality, each member still holds deep expertise in a core area. This approach allows teams to maintain experts in every major technology while enabling them to “stretch” when necessary.
When your team is built this way, you’re not sacrificing expertise—you’re adding versatility. Every developer brings their unique skill set to the table, meaning you always have someone with the deep technical knowledge to handle complex challenges in each domain. This blend of expertise and versatility creates a resilient team that’s capable of tackling a wide range of tasks without being limited by rigid roles.
Internal guilds for knowledge sharing
One of the ways we promote T-shaped development is by establishing internal guilds for different technologies. These guilds bring together developers interested in learning or advancing a specific skill. Through regular discussions and experience-sharing sessions, guild members build foundational knowledge across different tech stacks, gaining exposure and insights that they might not encounter in their daily work.
The guilds provide a platform where team members can mentor each other, share challenges, and discuss recent trends or solutions they’ve encountered. This approach has proven invaluable for fostering continuous growth within the team and keeping everyone aligned on best practices across disciplines. The guilds create a collaborative environment where developers are encouraged to broaden their expertise and explore new technologies in a supportive setting, promoting T-shaped growth across the board.
Reduced communication overhead
Specialized roles often lead to a lot of back-and-forth between developers to coordinate even minor updates. For example, if a frontend developer needs a specific API endpoint, they may go through multiple rounds of communication with a backend specialist to get it right. This can lead to bottlenecks and inefficiencies as developers spend more time coordinating than building.
T-shaped developers can reduce this communication overhead. Since any developer on the team can handle different aspects of the stack, they’re able to work more autonomously. Minor updates or adjustments don’t need extensive cross-team discussions, which allows the team to work faster and more efficiently. With T-shaped skills, team members have the freedom to address dependencies directly rather than waiting on others.
Improved understanding of the full product
When developers work across multiple areas of a project, they gain a holistic view of the product. They don’t just understand their code; they understand the context in which it operates. This broader perspective enables developers to make informed decisions that better align with the product’s goals and end-user experience.
For example, a T-shaped developer with frontend expertise who understands the backend can appreciate the impact of data structure and performance considerations. This leads to more thoughtful design choices, like optimizing UI components for performance based on data handling in the backend. Developers who understand each other’s challenges become more empathetic, enhancing collaboration and ensuring smoother workflows.
Faster delivery of business value
One of the biggest advantages I’ve seen with T-shaped developers is their ability to deliver end-to-end business value. When developers are restricted to one area, they complete tasks within their specific domain but may lack insight into the broader picture. T-shaped developers, on the other hand, think beyond their specialization and focus on delivering value across the stack.
This approach not only speeds up delivery but also engages developers in the product’s overall success. With a team of T-shaped developers, everyone contributes to the project’s impact, seeing how their work directly affects the end user. This level of involvement fosters a sense of ownership and encourages developers to think more critically about the product.
Greater resilience and team coverage
When team members are T-shaped, the entire team becomes more resilient. Each developer is capable of covering for others, ensuring continuity even if someone is out. If a backend expert is unavailable, a frontend developer with some backend experience can step in and keep things moving. This resilience means that single points of failure are minimized, creating a more adaptable and reliable team.
In my teams, I’ve found that T-shaped developers provide excellent backup support. Not only does this prevent project delays, but it also fosters a culture of collaboration where people are willing to help each other and learn together. In today’s dynamic work environment, having a team that can cover each other’s roles is invaluable.
Building a culture of T-shaped growth
Encouraging T-shaped skills doesn’t mean abandoning specialization. Instead, it means promoting a culture where developers feel empowered to broaden their knowledge over time. In our projects, we’ve seen that when developers are encouraged to explore outside their primary expertise, it not only helps the team but also accelerates personal growth.
One approach that’s worked well for us is to promote collaboration between developers from different backgrounds. Pair programming, code reviews, and cross-functional projects have helped our developers gain exposure to different parts of the stack. Additionally, allocating time for learning and cross-training has helped T-shaped growth happen naturally, making our team more versatile and adaptable.
Conclusion: Why T-shaped developers are key to agile success
For agile teams, the flexibility, collaboration, and cross-functional capabilities of T-shaped developers make them invaluable. By combining deep specialization with a broad skill set, T-shaped developers ensure teams can adapt to project demands without being held back by rigid roles or dependencies. They drive faster delivery, more cohesive collaboration, and a culture of shared ownership that brings out the best in each team member.
In the end, T-shaped developers are not only more adaptable but also more engaged and invested in the success of the product. They bridge the gaps between different parts of the stack, providing a more seamless experience for the user and creating a team dynamic that’s prepared to meet whatever challenges come its way.
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