Something great I've specifically witnessed yesterday: when doing a small request, like ask for a feature request in the team channel, don't just describe a small use case.

Instead, provide the bigger picture: e.g. "I'm currently trying to climb that benchmark, I'm close to the top and only need a few % points that I could get with this new feature"

For me it worked wonders: a PR that I had been awaiting for some time was done overnight by an enthusiastic and helpful coworker!