

Things to Say When You're Losing a Technical Argument (2001) - btilly
http://www.pigdog.org/auto/mr_bads_list/shortcolumn/1914.html

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nreece
Reminds me of a quote by Erick Golnik, something that's often visible in
successful people:

    
    
      Win as if you were used to it,
      lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.

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zbanks
"Oh, my mistake. You're right. Thanks for pointing that out!"

That is, if you're humble enough to put your ego aside.

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furyg3
This is generally a good strategy even if it wasn't your mistake. Last week I
wrote a short apology for something I'm sure I didn't do, which got my client
in trouble with his business partner.

The business partner sent my client an angry email demanding to know how the
mistake could have been made. It's very _likely_ that it was the business
partner's mistake, very _unlikely_ that it was my clients mistake... but "oh,
hey! our consultant was working near that issue, maybe he touched it?! We'll
ask him right away, Mr. Angry Important Business Partner!"

Problem is: there's no possible way to know who did it. Shifting it back to
the likely source (business partner's team) will only make him more angry,
whether or not they are responsible. As a consultant, I can only loose.

So I write an email to him, CC my client, and apologize for the mistake,
promising that it won't happen again. My client knows I didn't do it, and now
knows that I willingly took the bullet for him.

Maybe SGaaS is a valid business model, where SG = scapegoat.

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lenni
Saying sorry (even for something you didn't do) is always a good strategy.

Another one of my favourites: Phrasing a request like you're asking a favour
even though you're just telling someone to do their job.

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tlrobinson
There's also the generic "that's provably false".

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paulgb
"If that's true, it follows that P=NP"

"That would reduce to the halting problem"

Or my favorite,

"If you can solve that problem, there are much more lucrative applications for
the technology than [what you're working on]"

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aohtsab
This reminds me of the markov-generated paper that was accepted for review (or
publication) at a distinguished organisation!

I don't have a link, although I think it was on HN awhile back.

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thedigitalengel
"Your solution promotes gender stereotypes"

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jpenney
I call #70 the Republican Option.

