things that i have done to make human connections with my co-workers

• if someone mentions kids / pets, always ask what they are, how old they are. people love talking about their families and you’ll get a sense of what their life is like
• after a lunch break, ask people what they had for lunch / what they’re having for dinner.
• ask about previous jobs, what worked well there, what didn’t.
• last photo on their phone. getting people to talk about themselves by asking them about the small, low-stakes details of their lives. it’s not “sell yourself”, it’s not “what’s an interesting fact about you, it’s just getting people to open up because everyone has lunch, everyone knows how old their kid is. Then you can say “oh i’ve got a niece that age”, “oh yeah my husband loves to cook that but I can’t do it”, things that help people connect and feel comfortable talking to each other.
• when people resist this stuff, why is it? they feel self-conscious? they have worked somewhere that faked this kind of safety stuff? they’ve been burned in the past? they don’t know what it’s like to work in a high trust environment?
• I have my good memory so I find it really easy to remember people’s names, partner’s names, jobs etc. how can you make this level of connection happen for people to whom that doesn’t come easily?
• should a developer be thinking about this stuff?