ECO.3:4 - Solution

ECO.3:4.1 - Recover the relevant parts of the separate plans

Identify what each prospective party is trying to accomplish, what contribution is missing, and what it can actually offer. Ask for the part that can change the proposed exchange: a delivery window, usable specification, spare capacity, right of access, complementary skill or limit on exposure.

Keep understanding and agreement separate. A party may understand a proposal and rationally prefer its current plan. Avoid treating silence as a commitment or declared interest as available resources.

ECO.3:4.2 - Construct the combination and terms

Form a concrete proposal: who provides what, to whom, when, under which conditions and in exchange for what. The combination may change the product, service, counterparties, sequencing or ownership of a result. Money can mediate the exchange, but barter, reciprocal service and conditional access can also be candidates.

For each party, compare participation with its feasible alternative. Include the work of discovering, arranging and sustaining the exchange, including an intermediary’s contribution. Use ECO.1 for disputed quantities. A difference in valuations can enable trade; agreement on one objective is unnecessary.

Follow the proposal through the complements needed to realize it. Name unresolved supplier, customer, performer or funding commitments for ECO.4. Identify materially affected nonparticipants and resource consequences. Consent between the prospective parties alone does not settle imposed costs or rights of others.

ECO.3:4.3 - Test the contribution, then keep or change the proposal

Use the smallest attainable interaction that can change the next move: a discussion of terms, a matching offer, an illustrative sample, a conditional order or a limited use. A test has a purpose such as “can this party use the service in that window?” rather than “collect more evidence”. STR.7 helps decide whether such a test is worth its burden and how to bound it.

If the proposal is understood but not attractive, change the combination or counterparties, or stop. If it is attractive but a contribution is unavailable, return that condition rather than announcing an exchange. If an adequate attainable agreement already exists, proceed using the ordinary operating and contractual methods.

Return the next usable result in the working proposal. Preserve what the unsuccessful attempt revealed about another plan when it can improve the next search. Wider problematization and search remain with the existing FPF and Strategy methods.