[reactordev]

Without proper management, you're correct. It would. I would retort, never start a sentence with a negative. Find something you do agree upon, make comments about the stuff that you do like, before going into the details of what you don't. This way it's clear where those boundaries are and in what context the disagreed design would need changing, if any. This also prevents brilliant jerks from completely destroying the confidence of others to even present designs to the group. Yes, it's a little showy, using more words than are necessary, but it keeps the human aspect of agreement and cooperation in-tact.

[Jensson]

> I would retort, never start a sentence with a negative.

"Could you do the easy and obvious thing?" means the same thing, I don't see how it makes a difference.

[ozim]

I believe parent was more into “could you do xyz?” Where xyz is easy and obvious thing, but no one would explicitly phrase it exactly like “could you do easy and obvious thing?”.

This way proposing xyz as a solution is positive not a negative.

[reactordev]

Easy and obvious are subjective.