Still early in my journey, but one shift that's helped me stop explaining the code is starting to explain the cost. I think stakeholders aren't ignoring the technical side out of bad faith. They just need the translation. Once I started framing delays and pushback in terms of user trust, maintenance debt, and revenue risk, the conversation became less adversarial. The hard part is that this skill isn't taught anywhere. You just have to burn your hands on a few rushed deadlines before it clicks.