I wrote a fourteen-page report. Linda and the operations director read it. The operations director sent me a follow-up email saying it was one of the more useful documents he had received in his role, and could I discuss implementation?
I scheduled a call. The call led to an implementation support agreement: one check-in call per month for six months, two more on-site visits. It was not a large engagement by some standards but it was a real one, with a realistic scope and a clear deliverable.
I did not specifically think about the fact that this was Daniel’s company. I thought about the work. The work was good.
Daniel knew about the follow-on engagement. He found out when I told him, not because he would have found out otherwise — the billing goes through the Alliance, and his department and the facilities coordination team are separate — but because I told him because it was news in my professional life and we were now in a place where we shared news in our professional lives.
He said: “Are you going to be there when I’m there?”
“Probably on the October visit,” I said. “I was going to let Linda know about the connection and see if it matters.”
“It doesn’t need to matter,” he said. “You’re doing work for a different part of the company. We won’t cross paths in any meaningful way.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Unless you want to get lunch,” he said.
I laughed. “If the schedule works, sure.”