HKSM

A team member who brings several relevant skills with uneven levels of proficiency across them, enabling flexible contribution across the teams work. Also called Paint Drip; related to T-shaped and I-shaped skill profiles.

Key Points

• Multi-skilled individual with different depths of expertise across several areas.
• Supports swarming, reduces handoffs and bottlenecks, and improves flow.
• Visual metaphor: comb teeth of varying lengths represent skill depth per domain.
• Compare with T-shaped (one deep, many shallow) and I-shaped (single deep) profiles.

Example

In a Scrum team, a developer can build APIs, write test automation, assist with UX reviews, and handle CI/CD tasks. They are strongest in backend work but can step into testing or DevOps when the team needs help, illustrating a broken-comb skill set.

PMP Example Question

In an agile team, which skill profile best describes a member who can contribute at different proficiency levels across coding, testing, UX, and DevOps, enabling effective swarming during sprints?

1. T-shaped
2. I-shaped
3. Broken Comb (Paint Drip)
4. Generalist with no depth

Correct Answer: C — Broken Comb (Paint Drip)

Explanation: A broken-comb professional has multiple skills with varying depths, allowing them to contribute across several domains. T-shaped has one deep area with broad shallow skills, and I-shaped focuses on a single deep specialty.