In the year-and-a-half since I first wrote this (it is my most popular post ever, I beleive, and undergoes a resurgence in popularity every 6 months or so), I have moved significantly up the org chart, and these skills are even more important to me now. I spend a lot of time bridging the gap between the technical folks and the business teams, and there is no way I could do that without just these types of skills!

J.Ja