Ask HN: How to avoid arguing over trivialities?

I work on a team with 8 or 9 people who all have different specialties, but from time to time we experience a lot of overlap, especially when it comes to crunch time on a big project. Invariably we end up making a big deal over some small issue, be it version control conventions, variable naming schemes, or tabs vs. spaces. In other words, we're at loggerheads over some issue where reaching an agreement is more important than whatever the agreement is.

What do you do speed things along without pissing off your coworkers? We have non-technical but otherwise awesome management, and no official technical leadership. We like it that way. I think we all have an appreciation for the egalitarianism within the group, but sometimes it can be an impediment.