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> OK, question time. Do many of you really have such a
> hard time getting info from people? What's the
> hang-up?
>
> I'm being serious here. I've never had difficulty
> getting info from people, and I certainly never had to
> use a ploy to do so.
>
> So what is the situation that you cannot get info from
> people without going to elaborate lengths?
I'm wondering that myself. Maybe it helps to be in a small
company... though I was working for Ericsson for several
years, and for Philips for many years previous to that (neither
of which was anybody's notion of a small company in those years),
and I just don't recall the kinds of machinations some people
mention/suggest on this list. You just size up the situation,
and start poking around and asking questions, even the very
basic "who would know about ___".
Of course, if it comes to 'tactics', we probably all have the
odd one or three. My favorite is to sidle up to a developer's
cube, pass the time of day for a couple of minutes, and
then ask a question -- or present a scenario -- that nobody
had considered. As soon as I get the desired response:
"Humph! Good question. We'd better look into that...",
I do the ole "Ahh, confusion and disarray. My work here is done."
and walk away (ducking as appropriate; some of those developers
have good throwing arms).
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