I am in the process of negotiating with a contractor for some work on my property. I thought we reached an agreement. The contractor emailed me a contract. When I read it, it wasn’t consistent with what I expected. I texted him. He texted back. This went on for a few more texts. Nothing was resolved. The contract stayed unsigned on my laptop. I decided to speak to him in person to see if we could iron out our differences. We met, we talked, and everything was worked out in ten minutes. I think face to face conversations are always more productive in ironing out differences of opinion than digital transmissions. The key is to enter the conversation looking for common ground.