I have a guy on my team who is like this. I assign him projects based on his ignorance... If he says "I don't know anything about that" he gets that task. He seems to enjoy the learning, and in the process asks me (lead dev and architect) questions that help refine the overal design.<p>I have another guy on my team however, who I don't ever give projects like this. He gets the well defined ones, in technologies he knows well. He can take those tasks and knock them out well, and with great code. Stuff a lot of us would find boring.<p>Both styles are important. The thing TFA seems to ignore is that you need a balance of types to make a successful project.