Gauging Interest - Anyone interested in a NYC CTO/VP-Tech/Dir. Engineering/Etc Roundtable ?  

Are there any people out there in Senior Tech roles in NYC interactive agencies, startups, and service companies -- preferably management oriented , but seasoned engineers would be welcome -- interested in starting a (bi)monthly roundtable ?

We'd sit down , or grab a drink , and chat about things

• Architectures we like and hate
• Vendors we love and despise
• Recent issues we've run into , and solutions we had
• Maybe we'd have presentations on software stacks or creative problems+solutions
• How your online project does what it does , and why you chose that platform ( but not what it does or even why it does it )

Things that would be completely banned and may result in a flaming bag filled with dog poo appearing on your stoop include:

• Startups pitching
• Vendors presenting
• Anything related to your business model
• Anyone that does marketing
• Anyone that is trying to 'network'
• Anyone who is going just to try and get a job. ( But if you are between jobs and want to participate, we'd be happy to have you! )

This would be modeled somewhat like the NYC BSD monthly meeting - ie: problem/solution oriented on presentations, but also have room for roundtable discussion. The point of the meeting would be to try and better ourselves , our teams, and our products.

The reason why this would be limited to management and engineers with the right attitude is that we're not concerned with why "Cake PHP is so awesome!" or "Rails Rocks!" -- we'd be concerned with business and architecture decisions -- the implications of choosing one framework over another; tips on how to avoid pitfalls; and learning from one another. Typically the people who make these decisions are managers - not developers.

Why? All of my friends out there are using drastically different combinations of OpenSource and Commercial technologies. All of the special interest groups are focused on a specific platform, and all of the NYC meetups are filled with people trying to pitch me something or give me their resume.

Interested? Email / Twitter / Facebook me !