This is a good approach and good advice for better communication in general: you have to listen to both the exact words and the intent behind them. Coming from technical fields, many of us are rather biased to dismiss what others say for technical reasons only, when if we cared a bit more to look into what they are really trying to say or figure out, we could help them, understand them, and start much more interesting debates. This is too often seen in political debate too, though the bias here might come from a different side (if you can nitpick on the form of an argument, you don't have to care about anything else).