I've noticed that it's often very difficult for to work with non-programmers.
* Non-technical people often express doubt about answers provided by programmers.
* Programmers often to have to explain and explain and re-explain or risk sounding condescending if they say anything that even remotely sounds like 'you're not a programmer; you wouldn't understand".
* Non-technical people try to 'help' by Googling stuff and sending links. I've literally had non-technical users email me StackOverflow answers to absolutely unrelated problems, and other stuff like Wikipedia articles that are only tangentially related.
What does HN think about good strategies to avoid feeling stressed out by trying to work collaboratively with non-technical people?
Please take this in the spirit it is intended, which is to help you not feel stressed.
I think the most helpful thing you can do is understand the priorities of the non-developers and speak to those points. If the non-developer believes you understand their priorities they will have confidence in you, and they will take your input/responses at face value.
If you think that your ability to communicate with non-developers is limited find an example that you can learn from to improve your effectiveness. Sales engineers are technically proficient, but they have the ability to present and communicate to non-technical parties in an effective manner. Part of the key to that is focusing on the objective rather than getting someone to understand something as well as you do.