Communicating or, ah, not communicating

How do we do it? I've been on the planet for a couple of years now, and some folks have assured me that it isn't my first time but I still seem to sometimes have trouble communicating with the opposite sex. This isn't meant to be a sweeping statement so much as an observation. 

For the past several months I have been learning a new set of tools as a part of planning and programming new facilities - projections. The main market sector our office performs work for is government/institutional. This market sector tends to build what they need long after they really need it and then tries to build a little for their future since they recognize they'll put it off the next time too. In our first kickoff meetings we are often led through a maze of rooms that can no longer be called offices, storage room or even janitor closets. They've all been 'repurposed'. I've seen an office that was a janitor's closet. Not my idea of an office but I suppose it is private. Corridors turn into file rooms and other work spaces. Observations of how people make do could be the subject of another blog, another day. When these entities actually finally choose to build - they often want to know, in five year increments, how they will grow - both in staff and space. 

My first projection project was for a lab and the second is for a communications facility. In setting up the models I tried to use as a basis others that I reviewed an thought I understood. I used a 'go by' following in the footsteps of others. A cheat I know, but you have to start somewhere and get it done in a reasonable amount of time. My supervisor liked it at first but upon further analysis found an error in the logic. My logic or really, the original author's logic. And tried to explain it to me. Several times. And although each time we reviewed it I believed I understood him - it turned out I didn't. Having now finished the second project projection I think I finally got it. Apples and oranges are different. And when you hear about it, well, it means something other than what you think. Sometimes. Wikipedia didn't help me by the way - turns out apples and oranges may not be absolutely a comparative statement. We can't trust our own definitions in a conversations sometimes without first comparing our definitions. And agreeing. 

By the way - girl logic and boy logic requires further exploration. And attention. And hard listening and exploration during the conversation. Confirmation during and after the conversation. And cooperation between two people who understand that they think differently. Very differently.