Wallah as defined by Webster:

Noun 1. (India) usually in combination: person in charge of or employed at a particular thing: "a kitchen wallah"; "the book wallah"; “chai wallah”.

In our day-to-day lives, it is tempting to say “Yes” I can do that.  That, may include coding a requirement, writing a blog, fixing the front door, or many other items.  Sometimes, we call a person a “generalist” when they can transform their skills to accomplish many different tasks. 

Seth talks about the idea of a chai wallah.  A person who succeeds or fails on the performance of one task – selling spiced tea.  Maybe we call such focused people “specialist”; when you go all in, it focuses your attention and effort.

Go talk with Mrs. X, she can solve just about anything.  Mr. Z can complete that for you – he does that for everyone and knows all the tricks.  Which stereotype fits you?  Depends on what motivates you.

Working on my dissertation, I was focused.  Speaking at events – it was great having in-depth knowledge on a subject.  This is a must in the academia world, you must specialize in the subject at hand to get the grant.

Working in the industry, I’ve played both roles.  I’ve developed products which specialized in a given market for a given tasks.  It was great selling that suite of products to many companies.  Working for start-ups and small companies, I’ve created customized solutions for unique individuals.  If you have many of such projects up in the air, it can be frustrating and exhilarating. 

Look at swarming, first the population is randomly scattered over the search space.  After running the simulation for awhile, if you set your parameters correctly, the swarm begins to focus on given solutions.  I think the same is true in many situations.  At the start of a new adventure, you randomly deploy your efforts and as you get better – you begin to see the specialized solutions that may work for you. 

Thank You for listening.