To this point, our (Microsoft) Teams culture has been to have one-to-one conversations. If I have a question about a product, I ask the developer working on it directly.

But we have a silo problem. The developers on our team work independently on different projects without much interaction. There’s a need, though, for everyone to understand all our systems as a backup for one another.

After a group chat I initiated while solving a production issue, I received feedback that the conversation helped a developer understand our environment better. The developer hadn’t participated in the discussion at all; I wasn’t sure they were even paying attention :-)

In the future, I’m going to err on discussing topics in a team channel rather than one-to-one. Those conversations will spread knowledge more than they will be a distraction.