Being a contractor I tend to move “jobs” more frequently than if I were a permanent member of staff. I therefore get to work with a huge range of people across the development spectrum. At most clients I tend to meet at least one person I would call an all star. These people are exceptionally gifted at their job, whether that entails architecture, development, business knowledge or other areas. I sometimes day dream about what it would be like to cherry pick these outstanding people from each client and build out our own consultancy. Released of company bureaucracy, lazy colleagues, obstructive management and other drags, the sheer amount of work they could produce with their talents when combined would be staggering. Of course the practicalities of doing so would rarely work; Some people are happy working for their employers year on year with no stress and would not relish the prospect of additional risk. Some contractors would get bored and want to push boundaries on their own. Some people enjoy being the go to person in a company. And unfortunately I’ve only ever met one “salesman” (my first real boss who is all but retired nowadays) with such a deep command of the technical and the selling side of business, that winning clients’ business would be far easier said than done. Still it’s nice to dream…