One of the things that makes missions to space so successful is mission control - a room full of really smart people who help the astronauts solve complex challenges in real-time. While Confluence isn’t as complex as sending people into space, it still has levels of complexity that require us to manage it (and sometimes get our own room of smart people to help solve challenges).

Recently Atlassian released a feature called Mission Control that helps do exactly that. It lives in space settings and is full of resources to help admins manage their space.

Read on to learn more - and check out this youtube video detailing the feature.

Start at the top

At the top you’re presented with three metrics - the total amount of content in the space, the number of content views, and the amount of content created, plus a change over the last week for all of those. I find these three numbers are useful to determine how well the space is being utilized. For example, if the amount of content in the space spikes, it suggests something is going on in the related area. If the number of views falls off a cliff, I would want to dig into what happened.

Access questions

Next we get a view of access to the space in the form of external access and admins. I really appreciate having external access immediately available as I am (more than) a bit paranoid about external access. Seeing who the space admins are is also useful in the event I need some backup, or need to audit.

Metrics, Metrics and more Metrics

While the top focuses on high-level information about the general setup of the space, the middle gets into the numbers. For me this section helps me identify how the space is doing, and helps highlight areas I should look into. All this information can be displayed daily/weekly/monthly over the last 7/30/60 days via a selection at the top.

Metrics include:

1. Content views - The total number of views in the time frame, split by content type (pages, blogs, whiteboards).

2. Move viewed pages - The top 3 pages by visits. This is a great way to find your most popular content. Also includes a link to view ALL you content by number of views.

3. Content created - The total number of content created in the time frame. I find this more useful in spaces where I’m not the sole creator, or spaces with a broad audience. I use it to gauge how interested folks are in contributing to the space. A spike could suggest a new initiative or project, and a dip could suggest a project is winding down.

4. Content updated - I really like this metric as it helps me figure out how “fresh” the space is. Over time we can expect some pages not to be updated, but if we see a constant amount of updates being made it suggests that the space is live and being actively used.

5. Total content - The total amount of content to the space by type. Useful for seeing how a page is growing, and what types of content your team uses.

Managing content

Below metrics we get two more valuable pieces of information. Prior to Mission Control this information was available, but could be hard to get to. Having it all in one spot makes it MUCH easier to dig into and manage.

1. Inactive pages - Any page that hasn’t been updated or visited in 6 or more months. This is an incredibly useful thing to track as you should be either updating or archiving that type of content (e.g. stuff that’s not being used). Getting a list that’s easily accessible makes this process a LOT easier..

2. Pages without active owners - As folks leave your organization (or lose Confluence access) any page they’re an owner on will no longer have an active owner. This is an issue as the owner is the point of contact for the page and should be actively maintaining it. Getting a list of pages with inactive owners makes it much easier to go find new ones and ensure your content is maintained.

Security

The final section of mission  control displays the total number of active public links, and the number of views those links are attracting. I find this to be very useful information - but only if you have public links turned on.Personally I’m a bit paranoid about publicly facing information, so having these metrics easily accessible helps put my mind a bit more at ease.

1. Active public links - The total number of active public links in the space (including a link to see them). Spikes in this metric could suggest someone is sharing information they shouldn’t, or that a new initiative is going live that requires public links. Either one should be investigated to valid it’s an appropriate use of the feature.

2. Public link views - The number of views made against public links. Similar to the active links, a spike could just mean something went live (e.g. a new feature or guide), or could suggest your links are being abused in some way. Definitely worth checking out if you see spikes in the metric.

Final thoughts

Mission control is a great step in the right direction for helping manage spaces, particularly ones that are accessed by larger groups (e.g. employee hubs) or are for sensitive things (e.g. special projects). Having access to all this information in one space is a very useful tool and one I hope to see more of in the future.