<!-- mobian-agent-page publisher="dailydev" canonical="https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5" -->

---
title: Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors | daily.dev
description: Most collaboration problems between teams are interface problems, not relationship problems, Andrew Bosworth argues. Good interfaces require three things:...
canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5
twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:site: @dailydotdev
og:type: website
og:site_name: daily.dev
og:title: Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors | daily.dev
og:description: Most collaboration problems between teams are interface problems, not relationship problems, Andrew Bosworth argues. Good interfaces require three things:...
og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5
og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/FDZXsPzx5.png
og:image:alt: Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors
og:image:width: 1200
og:image:height: 630
og:locale: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors

**[Programming Digest](https://daily.dev/sources/programmingdigest)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Most collaboration problems between teams are interface problems, not relationship problems, Andrew Bosworth argues. Good interfaces require three things: clear ownership of each area of work, an actual ordered priority list including items below the line, and a clear process for evaluating new requests. A priority list with only committed work is just a marketing document, he writes. Escalation should only happen after these three exist, when two accountable leaders share the same priorities and process but still disagree on interpretation.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://boz.com/articles/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors>

## Questions this post answers

### What three things does a team need to make cross-team collaboration work smoothly?

Clear ownership of each area of work, an ordered and inspectable priority list that includes work currently below the line, and a transparent process for evaluating new requests. Without these, teams end up navigating personalities and reverse-engineering decisions instead of resolving disagreements cleanly. Escalation should only be needed after all three exist and leaders still interpret shared priorities differently.

_Leads untangling team friction can revisit these interface principles on daily.dev._

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Working with Designers](https://daily.dev/posts/working-with-designers-9octux4z4) · Josh Hornby · 0 upvotes · 0 comments
- [How to Work With Anyone](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-work-with-anyone-58f6x0qea) · Tech Lead Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments
- [Designing For Healthy Conflict in An Engineering Team](https://daily.dev/posts/designing-for-healthy-conflict-in-an-engineering-team-rc0hxgbni) · Effective Software Leads · 7 upvotes · 2 comments
- [When Planning Should Become A Shared Problem](https://daily.dev/posts/when-planning-should-become-a-shared-problem-inbzldx4x) · The Mountain Goat Software · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T04:36:26.607Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T04:36:50.973Z","description":"Most collaboration problems between teams are interface problems, not relationship problems, Andrew Bosworth argues. Good interfaces require three things:...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f896a35d2ed0595a8250c1c5b6357b07?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f896a35d2ed0595a8250c1c5b6357b07?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Programming Digest","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Programming Digest","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/4637f2287b44420aa9a44f432116043d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/programmingdigest"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"leadership","timeRequired":"PT3M"}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Programming Digest","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/programmingdigest"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Good Interfaces Make Good Neighbors"}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/good-interfaces-make-good-neighbors-fdzxspzx5#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What three things does a team need to make cross-team collaboration work smoothly?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Clear ownership of each area of work, an ordered and inspectable priority list that includes work currently below the line, and a transparent process for evaluating new requests. Without these, teams end up navigating personalities and reverse-engineering decisions instead of resolving disagreements cleanly. Escalation should only be needed after all three exist and leaders still interpret shared priorities differently. Leads untangling team friction can revisit these interface principles on daily.dev."}}]}
```

