"By eliminating a “best practice” and replacing it with an open-minded acknowledgment that there are multiple paths toward achieving alignment, I feel confident my work on future projects will result in more meaningful approvals and scope sign-offs."
Read her article before you read my comments. It's got some great insight.
Now, some things I have done at various times that are 'non-standard' but seem to have worked.
- Spend time in conversation with your stakeholdes and demonstrate to them that you understand their business and have their interests at heart (and that you are technically capable.)
- Facilitate discussions between developers and client/SMEs to open the communication to another level
- Use business processes as a common language and contect, and drop jargon (heresy for OO/Use case fans?)
- Put it all one one page, and use that page as the main conversation tool
- Break the product into releases or parts to simplify the discussion
