This is a perfect example of why it's important to understand not just what your client is asking for, but why they think they need it. The same lesson goes at

This is a perfect example of why it's important to understand not just what your client is asking for, but why they think they need it. The same lesson goes at least as much, imho, for negotiation - I used to see this all the time at my last job. We'd be negotiating a deal with some counterparty, and they would ask for something completely unnecessary and completely unpleasant (for our side). Sometimes it was just a negotiating ploy so they would have an ask to drop in exchange for something they wanted more, but often as not they just hadn't thought about whether or not they really needed Onerous Provision X. And if instead of fighting over Onerous Provision X you tried to figure out why the other side thought they needed it, and then tried to address that need in some other way, the whole thing went a lot more smoothly, you usually didn't need to give them Onerous Provision X, and everybody walked away feeling like they got what they wanted. The point of which rambling story, I guess, is that in spite of the linked piece being presented as Idiot Client Asking for Dumb Things, the real lesson is that half the time a ridiculous request is actually just an opportunity to meet the underlying need in a better way.