From an IRC Conversation today:
<user1> if only I had a way to make boss[-2] hear "no, that's stupid"
<user1> oh wait, he thought he was the boss
<me> powerpoint presentation - propose 3 solutions: 1) your pipe
dream, 2) the thing you want, 3) his idea.
<user1> why bother with 1 and 2 ?
<me> you have 5 slides: 1) the problem. 2) the 3 solutions, 3-5: each
solution's pro/cons laid out
<me> by limiting yourself to this terrible format, you have to choose
very specific pro/con items for each
<me> so you can weight the solutions to drive his decision
<me> i use it all the time.
<me> makes them think that they're making a choice, rather than you
forcing it on them
<me> give them the chance to raise questions. their assumption is
that you want #1, but you don't, you want #2
<me> esp. when you lay out the prices, and 1 is 2x 2, and 2 is 2x 3, 2
becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly
<user1> probably I do honestly _want_ #1, I just don't think it's the
best tradeoff.
<user1> I want the fully loaded version, but midrange is almost always a
better deal.
<me> like I said - #1 is your pipe dream
<me> you can't have 1 so high that you wouldn't want to, or couldn't,
implement it
<me> but you don't want it so low that #2 is actualy not a good option
you need to give them something to say "no" to
<me> a sacrificial lamb, so to speak

Sometime in the future I’ll actuall write this up nicely, but at least it’s captured.