Titles shape perceptions, define boundaries, and set expectations. But they can also create silos, discourage collaboration, and limit potential. The issue isn’t the work itself; it’s the rigid boxes we impose. Whether in writing, design, or development, over-specialized titles do more harm than good. This problem becomes more pressing as companies grow. In a small startup, everyone wears multiple hats, naturally contributing beyond their formal expertise. But as organizations scale, camps emerge, each advocating for their discipline and team with strict rules for involvement. Collaboration fractures, and the organization loses sight of the bigger picture.
What’s in a Title?
A title often has 3–4 components: seniority, discipline, team, and division. Left unchecked, these components can quickly multiply, creating rigid hierarchies and silos. My perspective:
- Seniority Levels: Keep these private and tied to personal development. Non-descript levels (L1, L2, etc.) are better than labels that carry subjective understanding (junior, senior, etc.).
- Teams and Divisions: Orient these broadly or by discipline (e.g., Apple’s approach) to foster holistic ownership. Emphasize that team affiliations should change based on the organization’s needs.
- Disciplines: Keep these as broad as possible. Avoid over-specializing roles (the main focus of this post).
If you don’t give thought to all three components, the default quickly becomes a title such as “Senior Frontend Developer, Checkout team in Shop Platform”. This puts people in rigid boxes, which consequently stifles individual initiative, and requires a large amount of people in the room to agree to anything consequential.
Ask yourself whether publicly visible seniority levels truly benefit your organization? Keep in mind that they can often introduce implicit authority and hidden power dynamics, undermining collaboration and diluting the focus on the best solutions.
Equally, in putting people in small long-term teams, be cautious that they can develop protectionism and become biased toward solutions that favor their team’s involvement, even when better alternatives exist. Consider organizing teams differently—making them more ephemeral and closely tied to your roadmap—to encourage flexibility and focus on the best outcomes rather than entrenched interests.
Case in Point: Writing is Writing
In many organizations, roles like UX-, copy-, and content-writer are often treated as distinct. But at its core, writing is writing. Whether crafting microcopy for a user interface or creating social media content, the fundamentals remain the same—clarity, empathy, and impact. Specialization in areas like readability, accessibility, or brevity adds value, but these aren’t separate disciplines; they’re part of being a good writer.
Titles fragment teams unnecessarily. A “UX writer” might resist input from a “copywriter,” creating silos that slow progress. Good writing adapts to context—whether it’s a push notification, an ad, or a button label. Over-defining roles introduces bureaucracy, undermines coherence, and shifts focus from solving problems to enforcing silos.
Brian Chesky from Airbnb recognized this when he dismantled their UX writing team and merged it with marketing writing. Splitting these functions fractured the product’s voice. “Why don’t we just have the best writers do everything? Emails, the app, the ads—they should all be one voice,” he said.
Beyond Writing: Engineering, Design, and Marketing
Service design, UI, and UX are distinct and essential skillsets. Expertise in one doesn’t imply expertise in the other, but the best designers don’t confine and define themselves to a specific skillset. Instead, they push to not only understand the broader design discipline, but also engineering, business strategy, marketing, data analysis, and many other areas that are critical for impactful design. The same holds true for all other disciplines. You’re not a frontend engineer; you’re an “engineer.” You’re not simply a performance marketeer; you’re a “marketeer.” And so forth.
Titles should guide work, not restrict it. Broad, flexible roles, paired with clear expectations on an individual level, foster better collaboration, adaptability, and innovation. As an example, every engineer at OpenAI shares the title “Member of the Technical Staff.” Resist the urge to over-specialize, and focus on solving real problems together.