Welcome to Consulting@quality.org. This forum is devoted to discussions of issues pertaining to the consulting process. It is not tied or limited to any particular branch of consulting. Computer consultants, consulting engineers, training consultants, organization development or "process" consultants, general business, and management consultants are all welcome to contribute and participate. Because the focus of this list is on the consulting process, not on the specific discipline or branch of knowledge that is being brought to bear, cases or examples should illustrate points or pose issues in terms of the consulting process as well as the particulars of the case in point. Currently, the list is not moderated and it will stay that way unless things get out of hand. Some general guidelines follow: Requests for help, advice, counsel, assistance, sources and resources may be posted to the list; however, once contact has been made, conversations should move to back channels, that is, to e-mail exchanges between the principals, not postings to the list. Anonymity is not permitted. You will be expected to identify yourself and state the nature of your affiliation with and interest in the practice of consulting. One way of doing this is to make your first posting to the list an introduction of yourself. As list owner, I'll set the example (see below): Fred Nickols Executive Director, Operations Staff Educational Testing Service e-mail = nickols@aol.com I worked as an internal OD consultant in the Navy for the last few years of my 20-year career and, after retiring, worked briefly with two small training and development firms, then branched out on my own. I worked as an independent general management consultant for several years and spent the last few years doing systems development and new product roll out projects. I've been "inside" as they say for almost eight years (about five years with ETS and almost three with another client). Currently, I function chiefly as an internal consultant. As indicated above, I am the list owner. Bill Casti is the domain owner and we have this list available for our use as a result of his gracious and generous support. Bill's specific requirements and ground rules are listed below: *** PLEASE SAVE THIS FILE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE *** Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) * "How do I post a message to everyone on the list?" Address your message ONLY to: consulting@quality.org * "How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Consulting list?" Address your message to: majordomo@quality.org - To Subscribe, make sure the ONLY text in the BODY of your message reads: subscribe consulting - To Unsubscribe, make sure the ONLY text in the BODY of your message reads: unsubscribe consulting * "How come there's so high a noise-to-substance ratio sometimes?" Here's some 'Netiquette to follow in your postings and response to others' messages: 1. ALWAYS include your email address in the BODY of your message, preferably at the end of your comments. Any messages sent to the moderated list without an email address in the body will be returned to the sender for correction and resubmittal--no exceptions! 2. When responding to a post, please quote enough of the message you're responding to to give everyone the context. Not everyone might have been a subscriber or have been following the entire thread. If you don't tell them what you're talking about, it'll just be gibberish to them, and it'll make you look like an inconsiderate boob. 3. If your only reason for posting is to respond to a offer of free...anything, please send your response DIRECTLY to the poster who made the original offer. Don't clutter up the list with dozens of "me too" messages. Those who repeatedly violate this rule may have their subscription deleted without warning. 4. If you want to followup with a poster, please do so in PRIVATE email to that poster. On-list personal chit-chat is discouraged so as not to distract from our Consulting discussion focus. 5. ALWAYS be sure to send your post to the CORRECT address: - The ONLY correct posting address for the Consulting list is: consulting@quality.org * "How do I access the Quality Resources Online at QUALITY.ORG?" 6. The URLs for Online Quality Resources at the QUALITY.ORG domain are: Gopher gopher.quality.org FTP ftp://ftp.quality.org/pub/qc WWW http://www.quality.org/qc * "What other lists are available at QUALITY.ORG?" 7. The following quality-related lists are supported at QUALITY.ORG. To receive email information about any of them, address a message ONLY to: majordomo@quality.org with ONLY the following text in the BODY of your message: info substitute the list name for List Name Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------- config-mgmt Configuration Management consulting General Discussion List for All Consultancy Areas iso-users Northern Virginia ISO9000 Users' Group iso25 ISO 25 Guidelines for Laboratory Certifications mop-group Measuring Organizational Performance Group sw-cleanroom 'Cleanroom' Software Development tqm-d Unmoderated "TQM in Mfg. and Service Industries" bpmi Business Process Management and Improvement qp-health Quality Issues for Professionals in Healthcare * "What if I don't like your rules or want to talk to you one-on-one?" 8. If you have questions about the administration of the QUALITY.ORG system or problems with subscribing or unsubscribing to any of the lists directly supported by this domain, send your message to: help@quality.org But, make sure NOT to send your list posts to this address, as misdirected messages will be ignored. You may contact the list owner (not the system administrator), Fred Nickols, at: nickols@aol.com * "Where can I find this FAQ file?" 9. This file is accessible through the following URLs, in these specific locations: Gopher gopher.quality.org/Lists Supported At QUALITY.ORG FTP ftp://ftp/quality.org/pyb/qc/lists/lists.consulting.faq WWW http://www.quality.org/qc (Email Discussion Lists)