This part was particularly intriguing:
The clash of domains is a particularly fruitful source of ideas. If you know a lot about programming and you start learning about some other field, you'll probably see problems that software could solve. In fact, you're doubly likely to find good problems in another domain: (a) the inhabitants of that domain are not as likely as software people to have already solved their problems with software, and (b) since you come into the new domain totally ignorant, you don't even know what the status quo is to take it for granted.
Having spent a good part of my professional life working at the boundaries of different domains I have often found this to be both true and generalizable beyond software.
Obviously there can be a great benefits to being an "expert" with deep knowledge, but this can also blind one to new insights or perspectives. In addition, when you can bring knowledge from one area to another, this can create new insights and approaches. It can also provide a personal competitive advantage.
I've learned a lot about management from working in my vegetable garden. There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Spending a lot of time preparing the soil improves yield ("plant a 5 cent seed in a $1 hole). Pruning back will lead to better, more lush growth later.
In an age of increasing specialization, contrarians who pursue a wide variety of interests will sometimes produce the greatest breakthroughs.
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