Good production processes are always characterized by a lack of friction in intermediate stages. In software that mostly means that those involved "know each other's minds", as the friction is almost always coming as pushback during review or test. For most this doesn't come without "the feels" hitching a ride too. This can make getting there a bumpy ride, as most are incapable of articulating their boundaries without them first being crossed.

As you might imagine, any time feelings get involved, costs go through the roof. Very little productive will happen until all those chemicals flush from the system. Avoiding this involves setting expectations up-front. Which is hard, as most people are incapable of doing so for a variety of reasons.

First, most are incapable of coherently articulating their boundaries and preferences due to simple lack of spare time. This is almost always the case with those who are in "survival" (read: instinct) reaction mode, such as is the case during business emergencies. Many a new hire has failed to thrive due to being onboarded during a "permanent emergency". This is how firms dig holes they can't get out of, as they can't scale under this mindset. Such emergencies are usually caused by excessive micromanagement in the first place. If you can't "Trust the process" the firm isn't really set up to succeed.

Many others default to sub-communication of emotional state when communicating rather than directly stating their desires. They tend to only resort to direct comms when they've become so frustrated with their interlocutor that they put their thoughts together in a coherent form. Deciphering sub-communications is essentially mind-reading (especially in text communication), so I don't feel particularly bad about failing to do so, or the emotional outbursts at my failure to "just get it". Some people just need drama in their lives. It's a pity that the time wasted in this pursuit wastes so much time and money.

The most pernicious difficulty you will encounter in this endeavor is the "nice guy". These are people who simply never disclose their boundaries for fear they will be perceived in a negative light. Software is packed to the gills with these types, quietly grinding their axes for years until it explodes like a land-mine under your production process. Thankfully, they can't help but tell on themselves. Passive-aggressive commentary is almost always a sure sign some kind of covert contract is lurking in their psyche. This results in expensive re-work when their expectations are not met, or what they want clashes with what's needed.

Countermeasures

Like any other production line, you can sand off a lot of the sharp edges causing friction. This is true even when dealing with problems between the chair and keyboard. People instinctually get that no amount of whining can sway automated linters, tidiers and CI pipelines. As such you should automate as much of this process as is feasible. Much of helping people succeed is reliably pointing them in the right direction.

RPA tools and chat bots have proven indispensable here as well. People knowing that routine parts of the workflow will be handled in exactly the same manner across a division can stop resentment over arbitrariness cold. Like with automation on the IC side, some will chafe under this. It is important to remind them that like children, we are best managed via rules applied consistently. Breaking discipline even once means production stoppages.

People must also face real consequences for failing to responsibly shepherd the production process. There will always be issues found in code review, for example. Failing to resolve these (either by the submitter failing to take action, or the review committee simply sitting on changes) should be unacceptable. Similarly, failures to communicate requirements (which could obviously have been), or to ask for clarification when requirements are vague should be rooted out.

Which comes down to the fact that "no, this time is not different". Your production process, like every single other one, can benefit from a check-list. If it can't be automated, make sure you at least can't forget to think about it. Making as much about the job as possible fully explicit reduces sources of error (and hence friction).