Reading "Let me try to explain using analogies.", I was worried someone would come up with another car anology.

Seeing orgs as people with characters, oh my, my eyes are opened now. Sounds weird but it makes sense the few times that I have worked on contracted projects.

For me, an added complexity in gauging the other side of the contract is that their personality changes depending on the actual people that are involved. When some higher-ups join the project it in later stages, the personality may turns even more mental than it already is.