Excellent post pjf,

I'm wondering if anyone has actually seen this occur in-practice, either in the software or other industries?

I can relate some direct experience here, as I am a consultant. I am employed by a medium sized consultancy, currently on assignment at a client's site. The cousultancy employs salesmen who have little or no knowledge of technology, hence I sometimes get involved with supplying background technical information. Although my primary role is technical, I have also been involved in the following activities:

• Pre-sales
  I have had meetings with new clients to assess technical requirements and staffing requirements for project work. Often they have needed somebody with knowledge of technology XYZ, hence I have been invited to the meeting.
• Recruitment
  Besides filtering resumés, I have interviewed potential future colleagues in the consultancy. Also, recently, my present client identified a need - that I was overworked and needed an assistant. I was involved in the process of matching the required skills with that of our consultants, and found that we did not need to recruit somebody extra - we found somebody who had just finished a project at a different client, and he is now working for me.
• After sales
  Being on-site, I am in a position to identify resourcing shortfalls and appraise my sales colleagues. I am also aware of other projects and activities happening - and where there are opportinities for the consultancy to get more business.

I have found that I have the reputation for knowing about certain technologies which are not the mainstream speciality of the consultancy. These include Perl, Unix and VMS.