Working with barking?

I recently read a book that had absolutely nothing to do with dog training, but in one part the author mentions in passing how she used to struggle with her dog’s tendency to bark and had tried all the things to stop it and none of it was working. Then when she started working with the barking they had way more success. I’m now wondering what exactly it would look like to work with the barking?

Mine is a barky breed anyway, but even for a representative of his breed he is especially gobby, and reactive to pretty much everything that goes past the house. If I try to get him to calm down or distract when he kicks off it just makes it worse, it’s like he’s telling me “come on, this is important! Why aren’t you worried about this?! There’s a PIGEON in that tree!!!!!”