If we're ever in a design meeting together, please, please don't act like this.
I already know the benefits of my design, that's why I presented it. I don't need you to point them out again. I need you to criticize my design and think hard about edge cases I've missed. Don't waste time trying to think of something nice to say, spend your time trying to tear my design apart.
I might feel bad to have the flaws pointed out, but I'll feel a hell of a lot worse if we go forward with my design only to find a devastating roadblock months down the road.
The thought process we go through to work out "what circumstances your design is good for" highlights problems. (e.g. "David, your navigation really well when there is a predictable number of categories, unlikely to change") highlights the shortcomings implicitly (e.g. "But, we're designing a wiki here, anyone can add anything.")
It sounds like you're a mature designer capable of taking criticism without any issue whatsoever. Most designers aren't like that, and unfortunately many who are can be difficult to work with because they think everyone handles criticism as "well" as they do.
I tend to agree. It can depend though on circumstances and personality types. I think we can adjust feedback methods depending on who is involved, how well we know each other, and so on.
That said, some people try too hard "not to be a dick", and while nice and polite, they end up supplying watered down, fence-sitting, egg-shell treading fluff instead of useful down-to-earth efficient feedback.
Some designers get emotional. That's good - but they need to learn to channel that emotion into reasoning and solid foundation arguments to support why they did what they did. If they can't do that, they need to work with people who can assist them in doing that.
A colleague once used "intuition" as her rationale for a design/IA decision that was going to negatively impact on technical work I had to do. My criticism was harsh in reply, and I'm sure she thought I was "a dick". Well, that's just tough. Build a bridge and let's move on to the next task. All intuitive decisions can be unscrambled or decoded to find their basis. Especially true in design environments where you're working within defined limitations, scope and objectives. If you can't find a basis, then unload the criticism, keep our humor, and let's solve the problem rather than mess around.
I already know the benefits of my design, that's why I presented it. I don't need you to point them out again. I need you to criticize my design and think hard about edge cases I've missed. Don't waste time trying to think of something nice to say, spend your time trying to tear my design apart.
I might feel bad to have the flaws pointed out, but I'll feel a hell of a lot worse if we go forward with my design only to find a devastating roadblock months down the road.