RE: Cooperation (Was: contacting Competitors)

[Brent L Jones <bjones -at- VersatileSoftware -dot- com>]

Harry Bacheler wrote on 08 December 1999 15:28:

[some good points deleted]

> 6)  Unless your company is in 'direct competition' with the 
> other company,
> why not just ask?
> 
> Harry Bacheler

I really don't think you can 'just ask' w/out some sort of prior connection
or introduction. Speaking for myself (and I don't see myself as being
particularly unfriendly or misanthropic), I would feel very strange if
someone I didn't know or had never met called me up or emailed me out of the
blue asking me how I did my job/scheduling/whatever, or if I could give them
help doing the same. Irrespective of whether that person worked for a
'competitor' or not, I would think it odd, rude behavior and I don't think
I'd react in a very helpful way.

Forums like TECHWR-L are different, of course. I have chosen to become part
of a communal sharing of information and opinions--there's a tacit
'introduction' at play. Same w/ conferences. *These* venues are where
introductions should be made, paving the way for future professional
contacts and  the sharing of information. Cold-calling someone, *especially*
a competitor, and asking for advice or information would probably result in
hostility, or at least a very strained atmosphere.

cheers,
brent
--
Brent Jones, Documentation Manager
bjones -at- versatilesoftware -dot- com
JADE Solutions
Office: 303 448 1019 x 40
FAX: 303 449 1548