Maybe I have a poor understanding of design office politics or I’m in a slightly different situation. Politics to me is give a little, take a little and knowing when to do so. Where I feel the most exhausted is working in teams where disagreements happen and instead of respecting an opinion and collaborating to solve it (acknowledging others criticism is fair and your initial solution needs tweaking) it becomes more like advocating or lawyer-ing. If you win enough of these, the game of politics says you should concede other battles even if you disagree, or risk being the bad guy. I hate that because if you feel a design or criticism is worthy and should be refined but decide to hold back then you’ve compromised your principles.