| I think the concept here is similar to the behaviour a lot of people exhibit when trying to say 'no' to something. Generally the 'no' is non-negotiable, but a layer of reasoning is added on top that invites the other person to negotiate. Person A: "Sorry, I can't do this because of X, Y and Z." Person B: "Well, can't you do X, Y and Z another time instead? This is important." You never really wanted X, Y and Z to be part of the conversation, but now they're in it and you've been placed on the defensive. If X, Y and Z were never mentioned in the first place, they wouldn't be on the table and you wouldn't have to justify them. Same as it is with stuff like tech debt and non-functional requirements. You want to do them, you most likely have to do them, so bake them in. Keep the tech debt and NFRs off the table but leave the features open to negotiation. Obviously has to be within reason if you want to maintain credibility, so you've got to figure out how to prioritise your tech debt too. And sometimes that means you don't do any of this and you accept a bit of interest on that debt. Tradeoffs all the way down. |