Re: The Holy Wars -- LAME!

[Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM>]

Hmmmm. I've been thinking about this one all morning....

I can sympathize with the frustrations of being caught in
the middle of a situation like this, but I think I would have
been more hesitant to take sides (it does seem to me
that you have taken a side). And this has nothing to do
with the Holy War over the Perfect Tech Writing Tool.

As a consultant, you're hired to come in and perform
specific work for the client. Then you move on to something
else. You don't have to live in the client's work environment
long-term. The regular employees do.

For that reason, it's probably best to stay away from
company politics, no matter what your opinions may be,
privately. Your actions may have long-term consequences
(good or bad) that you won't be around to see. And if the
consequences are bad, you may become a convenient
person to blame.

Unless I had been hired to advise management on which
product to standardize on, I think I'd have been inclined
to *try* to stay out of the war (I know it's not always that
easy). For example, I might have asked the person responsible
for my project "What format do you want this in?", and, if
necessary asked to be moved to a quieter area (where I
wouldn't have to listen to the squabbling).

Just a thought.

Regards,

Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com