Last Message: Customer ethics
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Date: 2000-10-01 19:52:33
From "Steven M. Scotten "
Subject: Re: Customer ethics

On Mon, 02 Oct 2000 01:07:27 -0700, Erik Miller wrote:

>Have you ever had a customer take your proposal and use the 
information in
>it to try to implement the solution themselves, or with another 
consultant?
>

I haven't had that happen, but I suppose that it is a risk. I think 
it's loosely related to one of Weinberg's rules: if the customer
isn't 
happy with your work, don't take their money. The connection may not 
be clear, so I'll try to tie it together. 

This rule would be bad advice if you didn't have a valuable service to 
offer. But you *are* offering valuable services, and if a client wants 
to cut himself off from your services by treating you in an unethical 
manner, that's his problem. Yeah, you may have used up some of your 
time and effort on this person. Getting clients involves effort. An 
unethical client is a client you don't want.

That said, I guess in retrospect, yeah, giving the part numbers on 
your proposal may have been overkill. =^)


Steve

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