I mostly rely on an internal feeling If you are like most people, intuition is really mental shortcuts you have developed over time. There is nothing wrong wit

I mostly rely on an internal feeling If you are like most people, intuition is really mental shortcuts you have developed over time. There is nothing wrong with mental shortcuts as long as you reflect why you feel the way you do. By reflecting, you will distill your thoughts into a few core principles. For example, software should be scalable (can easily accommodate thousands of concurrent users) and should fail gracefully (failure should be limited to the direct user and should not negatively affect all users). You have to be able to repeat these talking points over and over again, so that everyone knows where you are coming from. participate coherently in oral discussions? In an oral discussion, you have to first help the other person present his arguments. Then you can rebut. This means you have to ask clarifying questions. (1) what do you mean by this term -- please give an example? (just because you two use the same word doesn't mean you are talking about the same thing) (2) help me understand why you think X? (what is his basis for saying X is true) (3) help me understand the consequences of X? (what is his reasoning for what happens if you choose X).