6 / Is being friendly the key to better product collaboration?

Welcome to Issue 6!

When was the last time you sat down and really got to know your teammates?

In modern product environments, there’s so much pressure to deliver and ship that the human element often gets lost. When we try to improve collaboration, we usually reach for tactics or process tweaks. But one of the most powerful levers we have? Building genuine relationships and creating a work environment that people actually enjoy.

In this week’s conversation on Technically Lit, I spoke with Jason Chen from Trestle, and he hit on something that really stuck with me: cultivating cohesion on a product team is essential for true collaboration.

That deeply resonated with my own experience. The best teams I’ve worked on didn’t avoid disagreement–we had plenty! But we trusted each other. We had fun in Slack. We told jokes. We treated each other as people first.

By contrast, some of the worst experiences I’ve had were on teams that were technically “functional,” but completely lacking in connection. People didn’t get along, and it showed.

My conversation with Jason was a good reminder: no amount of process or tooling can fix people problems. If we can be more mindful and intentional about making space to enjoy each other’s company–to be better humans together–I genuinely believe we can supercharge our product efforts.

Let’s get Technically Lit,

Nick

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