The Dalai Lama often says that focusing too much on what makes us different divides us, and focusing on what we share as humans unites us. While I don't disagree, I think this view is a bit simplistic. Differences don't have to divide us. We can also use differences to bring us closer together.

Take a soccer team for example. The defenders have different skills than the attacking players, and the midfielders have different skills yet again. The coach probably thinks a lot about how to utilize the strengths and weaknesses of his or her players for the best of the team. This kind of thinking emphasizes differences, but on good teams it is used to bring the team together, not to separate it. Why? Because the fact the we have different skills, and that neither of our skills alone are sufficient for the task at hand, show us that we need each other.

It is the same for good software development teams. Maybe I am good at writing code and automated tests, but I'm not good at communicating with upper management. On the other hand, my PO maybe can't tell a for-loop and a while-loop apart, but he's really good at understanding business priorities and how to talk diplomatically to management and customers. And the business analysts have different skills yet again. And so does the scrum master. And so do the people working in upper management.

The point is that if we emphasize our differences in the wrong way, it will divide us. If we complain about the fact that the PO doesn't know anything about code, or that the scrum master doesn't understand semantic versioning, or whatever else, we're kind of missing the point. These people were not hired to understand these things. That's why we as developers were hired.

But if we emphasize our differences in the right way, we will see a lack of understanding as an opportunity to make our team mates better by sharing our knowledge with them. If we do, they are more likely to return the favor when we need their knowledge somewhere down the road. It just makes a huge difference if you explain something to someone with a mindset of respect and a genuine desire to help them grow, or if you explain it with a mindset of "you are really an idiot for not understanding this in the first place".

In other words: Don't get on a high horse and think you're the smartest guy in the room just because your strength and skill set is to understand technology well. Successful software projects need far more than just technological understanding. All roles on a team are needed, and all roles are important, because all roles contribute something to the success of the project. If you really have a role on your team where you feel like it doesn't contribute anything, it is high time to address that.

In a respectful manner. With an attitude of "I'd like to better understand what your contribution is so I can work better with you". Not with an attitude of "why are you here anyway, you're so useless." Just because you don't understand what someone's role contributes doesn't necessarily mean it really contributes nothing. You don't have complete knowledge over your situation in most cases. Don't fall into the trap thinking that you do, or worse that complete knowledge is not necessary because you're a dev and devs know everything about all aspects of software development by default.

What it comes down to: You need other people as a developer. And no, not only other developers. You need business people who understand the business processes. You need people who manage the team, or team of teams depending on your circumstances. You need people who do accounting. You need people who do marketing.

Because without those roles the company will likely not succeed and you will be out of your job, along with the rest of the employees.

The point is simply this: Our differences don't have to create an "us and them", or even worse an "us vs. them" mentality. Our difference can also bring us to the realization that we need each other, and that we are stronger together.