Nemawashi (根回し)

There’s a Japanese concept called nemawashi (literally “root-walking”) that offers a way around the dreaded “big reveal” in engineering proposals. Instead of marching into a meeting with your fully-formed design and expecting everyone to buy it, nemawashi encourages you to talk privately with all relevant stakeholders first and get feedback, surface objections, let people shape the idea, and build informal buy-in. By the time the formal meeting happens, the decision is mostly baked, not bombarded.

When I read “Quiet Influence: A Guide to Nemawashi in Engineering,” what struck me is how often we dismiss the political or social side of engineering work. A technically perfect solution can still die if colleagues feel blindsided, ignored, or defensive in a meeting. Adopting nemawashi has the power to transform you from someone pushing an idea to someone guiding a shared direction. For me (and for readers who work in cross-team or senior roles), it underlines a critical truth: influence is relational, not just visionary.

👉🏽 https://hodgkins.io/blog/quiet-influence-a-guide-to-nemawashi-in-engineering/