[mwd_]

Can you think of an important, common situation where it is definitely better to negotiate piecemeal? Maintaining leverage and being able to trade off concessions in different areas is very important in a wide variety of situations. "Never do X" advice can be useful as a heuristic when it pays off in the average case.

One probably could develop his own good negotiating techniques over time, but that would only come after being destroyed repeatedly by highly-skilled negotiators. I think it's way better to shorten that process by learning from others.

[erikb]

The funny thing about your request is, that one of the most well known books about negotiation called "Bargaining for Advantage" by G. Richard Shell (was talked a lot here and on other Start-Up/Tech related sites some time ago) starts with an example where it turned out bad for him, to negotiate the package and not point by point.

In the introduction (not to find in the amazon preview, sadly) he bargains with a class mate of one of his children or a neighbors daughter or something like that. She wants to sell fruits in different boxes, he of course not wanting to be impolite but not in need of fruits, orders the cheepest. And then without closing this one point, started by his wife he asks the girl if she can take care of the family pets, while his family is on a trip. So the girl says "Of course, but then you buy the big box, right?"

Is that good enough an example?

[mainguy]

Software Development, I see now why the process has been broken for so long, we're emulating corporate law contract negotiation tactics as a model for how to do things.