I don’t think you can generalize the human experience. Some people are difficult to go see a movie with, the same is true for collaborating on musical projects. In my experience it is more difficult for people to come to an agreement on the level of dedication to a project than musical taste.
Although with musical tastes, you have to speak up if you have any creative stake in the process, because nobody will give a shit or notice that you aren’t happy with the output if you don’t say anything, then again sometimes you just want out as fast as possible and as long as you won’t see your name on it then you prioritize completion over being content.
I see your questions as relevant from an intellectual standpoint but not a practical standpoint. Regarding wearing pants: you can tell a person to “put your legs through the holes” and zip them in the front" but you can’t encompass the nuance of putting on tight pants by a similar means, and that’s just pants!
People are unique, use your good sense and make compromises as you would with anything else. If someone is difficult to work with in life, making music with them will be no picnic. If you are at a level professionally where you are forced to make music with random people, treat it like a job and only put as much of your heart into it as you can afford to be crushed.
It’s most difficult to let go of the feeling “mine” and embrace “ours”, especially when someone you don’t like on a personal level is making your creative contributions sound worse, or even more detrimental keeps opposing you for seemingly no reason. It’s a game of humans and creativity is the secondary output. Even worse is when it’s not mine or ours, it’s “theirs” as in it belongs to a third party.
You can only expect that people will be consistent in this way. The same guy who cuts in front of you in line at the bank will cut in front of you in the writing session. However, there are moments when you work with someone who is very complementary to your creativity and won’t misinterpret you saying that something in the mix sound off, they’ll listen to feedback or help you be more creative, drawing the best out of you.
That’s why I feel no matter which hat you wear today, the head it sits on is still human, so don’t expect collaborative projects of creativity to be any different than the rest of your life experience. Compromise and the results will come but stand your ground in opposition if you know it’s necessary or relevant, the difficult part is choosing when to do which and I don’t think anyone can successfully teach that nuance.
The best practice is to listen to others and explain yourself clearly, do not be obstinate or engage in behaviors you yourself don’t react well to. Everything in between comes down to chance and compromise.
