My current approach to situations like these are based on “Never Split The Difference” by Chris Voss and “SPIN Selling” by Neil Rackham. For me, I’m trying to i

My current approach to situations like these are based on “Never Split The Difference” by Chris Voss and “SPIN Selling” by Neil Rackham. For me, I’m trying to identify what the other party _really_ wants, rather than what they _say_ they want. All too often I’ve taken the other person at their word: “we want to reduce time to approval”, “we want all these features”, “we want to reduce operating expenses”. However, when time came to implement a plan to hit those goals, it turned out those weren’t the actual objectives. A combination of sales, negotiation, and an attempt to identify the actual underlying need (belonging, recognition, autonomy, etc) has increased the hit rate. But, at the end of the day, we’re monkeys wearing pants trying to squirt ideas at each other via flapping meat. Let’s just be amazed that communication between people can happen at all :)