Mike Hudack is a tumblelog.

I have found that an important ingredient is to set realistic expectations about how long it will take you to respond to a new draft or a set of questions. Don’t say “we will get back to you tomorrow” if you already know that your lawyer is traveling and it will take you three days to get back. Large companies tend to be especially bad at this because someone eager to do a deal will forget about the ten other departments that need to be consulted. Often the net result of that are several days of “radio silence.” During this time the other side will start to ponder and more likely than not draw all the worst possible conclusions (“they are stalling”, “they are shopping the deal”, “they want to recut the deal”).