Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In is a best-selling 1981 non-fiction book by Roger Fisher and William Ury.

The book suggests a method of principled negotiation consisting of "separate the people from the problem"; "focus on interests, not positions"; "invent options for mutual gain"; and "insist on using objective criteria".

[6] As of December 2007, it was still making appearances on the list as one of the "Longest Running Best Sellers" in paperback business books.

[3]: xiv, 185–188  As of 2022, Ury asserted on his website that 15 million copies of the book had been sold, and that it has been translated into more than 35 languages.

Ways to accomplish this include "Put yourself in their shoes", "Discuss each other's perceptions", and "Face-saving: Make your proposals consistent with their values".

[3]: 31–32  Techniques may be needed to defuse anger, such as allowing the other party to voice grievances and to provide an apology as a symbolic gesture.

[3]: 44  The authors recommend that negotiators identify interests, such as the "basic human needs" of "economic well-being" and "control over one's life", behind the parties' positions.

: 62–72  The book describes specific techniques to promote effective brainstorming; for example, a "Circle Chart" diagrams the repeated steps of Problem, Analysis, Approaches, and Action Ideas that should occur.

[3]: 82–95  This approach can help produce "wise agreements amicably and efficiently", as in the case of negotiations about the Law of the Sea.

[3]: 88–89  The chapter on this principle concludes with an example of objective criteria being used successfully in a negotiation between a person whose car is a total loss and an insurance claims adjuster.

If the other side "has a stronger bargaining position", the authors recommend "Develop Your BATNA—Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement".

The authors cite the negotiations that led to the 1978 Camp David Accords as an example of the one-text procedure, with the United States drafting agreements between Egypt and Israel.

The book has been called "arguably one of, if not the most famous, works on the topic of negotiation"[10] as well as a "wellspring for cutting-edge academic research".

[13]: 508–511  In the field of psychology, principled negotiation has formed the basis for educational exercises about critical thinking.

White, a professor of law at the University of Michigan, suggested in 1984 that Getting to Yes is not scholarly or analytical and relies on anecdotal evidence, and that "the authors seem to deny the existence of a significant part of the negotiation process, and to oversimplify or explain away many of the most troublesome problems inherent in the art and practice of negotiation".

[21]: 121  Nevertheless, Fisher reported that when teaching a negotiation course he tore a copy of the book in half to emphasize that it was imperfect.

[22]: 837, 841  In 2006, Menkel-Meadow praised Getting To Yes for inspiring a "rich research and teaching agenda", but also claimed that the factors leading to successful versus failed negotiations are still unclear.

[23]: 500 In a 1985 article, William McCarthy described eight areas in which he agreed with the book, but also listed reservations and disagreements.

[24] The reservations included the authors' emphasis on long-term relationships (when immediate actions are sometimes required); the assumption that trust is unnecessary in negotiation; and the suggestion to "avoid starting from extremes".

[24]: 63–65  Fisher replied that he agreed with some of McCarthy's criticisms, for example that "Getting to YES probably overstates the case against positional bargaining".

[32]: 13  But he criticized their methods as inadequate for hostage negotiations such as the Waco siege: "I mean, have you ever tried to devise a mutually beneficial win–win solution with a guy who thinks he's the messiah?