Yes, orienting and profiling the teeth can help greatly. One way I found it was when trying to put 3 cogs on Brompton sourced from a cassette where the cogs were not in the same sequential order as needed on Brompton. I could not make the pusher shift properly over these with an indexed shifter no matter what I did. After I went back to the cogs from another cassette, where they were in the same order as needed on Brompton, the indexed shifting went to uneventful. However, the pusher is as primitive system as it can get. With a contemporary front derailleur you get well more flexibility. Incidentally, in my perfecting the match between the rings, I may shorten some teeth, but this for downshifting rather than up.

This discussion makes me think whether I should try the profiling for an upshift on an occasion. In the end, I just watch how the chain behaves during shifting and I decide how I can help.