SDForum Engineering Leadership SIG

This past Thursday evening I attended the SDForum Engineering Leadership SIG monthly meeting on the SAP campus in Palo Alto.

Jeff Richardson of Jefferson Consulting did a terrific, very interactive session on networking skills that pushed many of us geeks beyond our comfort zone. Apparently, there are more imaginative ways to introduce yourself than “Hello, my name is James Downey. I’m an IT consultant for Dell. What do you do?” Who would have thought? In one exercise, each of us introduced ourselves to several strangers each time using a different introduction. Chris Sims of Agile Learning Labs introduced himself as a lover of Indian food and went on to recommend a wonderful Indian restaurant close to my home in Foster City. That tip alone made the event worthwhile.

I also chatted with Harish Chinai of Ultimate in Success who sponsored the refreshments. Harish is a past president of PMI Silicon Valley and a tireless evangelist for project management.