Team25 Wrap Up
Team 25 is in the bag! It was a great 4ish days of Atlassian stuff, but for me it wasn't the swag, or the keynotes or the F1 cars that was the bar part it was the people.
The people
I got to meet at least a dozen folks I only know from a screen name or an email. I met another dozen I never met before anywhere, but had seen some of my videos or took one of my courses. This was a wonderful reminder to me that we the impact we have on others is always broader than we think, and that it’s possible to build connections even with a limited medium like chat or youtube.
Some of the people I met were during the live Confluence Challenge put on by Aura. I had a lot of fun participating in this challenge (even if I didn’t win!) and it was a great reminder that we all can learn more - even about topics people call us “expert” in.
More AI
With the announcement of Rovo being included in premium and enterprise we can expect a lot more ai in our lives. I'm really happy to hear this since up until now I haven't been able to use Rovo due to the cost. I've already got (more than) a few ideas about how I can leverage it to speed up my teams and their ability to find information.
Less silos
With the introduction of more AI, and more data sources, we can expect to see less silos dividing teams. This is something I struggle with, so seeing more tools that will help break down those walls is great. I'm especially curious to see how Loom can fit into this as it's a tool I currently use frequently to build out how-tos and other documentation. Being able to do a recording, and then have Rovo figure out the step by step documents will be a huge time saver.
I’m curious to see Rovo in action - especially around the knowledge discovery areas. I currently find myself using at least a half-dozen systems every day, meaning any one of them can have info I need about something. Using a tool like Rovo to more easily traverse them and find that knowledge will be immensely beneficial (and time saving!).
Cloudy Skies Ahead
One announcement from the keynote was the introduction of two new cloud versions - government and isolated. The first is intended for government groups and reflects Atlassians recent FedRAMP designation. This is essential to work with government agencies, so will unlock a lot of folks. The isolated cloud is exactly that - a company-specific cloud. This means groups can get additional security by being separate from the regular cloud (someone jokingly called this DC in the cloud). This will solve a lot of headaches for folks who need more isolation, but currently can't get it
Teamwork makes the dream work
Atlassian will begin offering the Teamwork Collection - which includes Jira, Confluence, Loom and Rovo (I believe it will be $15/month per person). Typically I see groups using Jira and Confluence, so adding Loom and Rovo is a great step forward. Loom allows groups to more easily record and share video/screens, while Rovo will help break silos by letting folks more easily find information and create Agents to help them automate tasks.
Bringing these all together is a great step as many groups already use some comination of these, and as a group they work well together. I’m personally curious to seeing how groups adopt Loom and Rovo. I’ve used Loom quite a bit and really like how easy it is to share information (although Rovo is new to me….).
Strategy Collection
Most people think of Atlassian’s products as being more tactical. Jira, for example, is mainly concerned with organizing work in the next week or two. Confluence is about capturing and sharing knowledge. This can make it challenging to get an overall look and where things are headed, and where teams need to make changes to shift to a specific target.
The strategy collection looks to help fill that gap. It includes three products that help groups get a grasp of their strategic plan and what they need to line up to get it done. The entire package is also being made available to existing Align customers for free.
Align let's groups more easily plan work across teams and see what projects and tickets are floating around. For smaller groups this may not be needed as the folks planning are aware of what’s going on, but as groups get bigger (and work gets more complex) having a single place to see all the threads - and adjust them - is critical to keep things on track.
Focus is Atlassians’ goals planning app and let's groups set goals and then align work to those goals (similar to OKRs). I haven’t personally used this product, but I can see how large organizations would benefit from being able to set a top-down direction that work ties into. Personally I find it incredibly challenging to meaningfully move the needle when I don’t have that direction, so very curious to see how other groups use it.
Talent is a new offering that helps groups determine what skills they need to accomplish their goals but also what gaps they'll have. For example if they're planning a large release in six months, talent can help them identify what team members they need, or who needs training to hit that target. I find this to be an interesting addition to Atlassian as up until now they’ve mainly been focused on the work (e.g work items, OKRs, code). This represents a shift into the things that make the work possible (the people) , which makes me curious to see where they’ll keep moving into.
This overall package feels like a bit of a shift, or maybe the recognition that the strategic level needs some love.
Community –Leaders– Champions
The Atlassian Community had some updates as well. The biggest - well, at least to some of us - is that “Community Leaders” are now being called “Champions”. This is a good shift, as it also represents an expansion in what a Champion does. Up until now we’ve mostly been involved (to some degree) in creating and hosting events. A new type of Champion is emerging, one that is an internal advocate within their company. I’m excited to see how this evolves the group as it will be more inclusive of folks who are engaged, but don’t want to host events.
We also learned more about the change of “Atlassian University” to “Atlassian Learning”. I like the name change as it feels more approachable, but the big news for me was about their Learning Management System. Instead of taking an off-the-shelf solution, Atlassian decided to build their own entirely from scratch. To me this is incredible as it ensures it will meet the specific needs of folks using it, but also demonstrates an immense amount of investment in the Learning community. (I can’t think of any other company putting this amount of resource into their Learning experience). It’s definitely worth checking out, and they’ve got some other interesting updates coming to it in the future.
Swag
Ok , the swag was fun! I did manage to get away mostly with stickers (mainly because I only brought a single bag!). I did notice a lot of vendors had socks this year… which is terrible (at least for me)! I’ve just declared “sock bankruptcy” and replaced all my mismatched socks with about 20 pairs of identical socks… this way I never have to worry about mismatches.
Final Thoughts
Overall team was an amazing (if exhausting) experience. It helped build loads of new connections, shared some amazing news and brought everyone together. If you weren’t able to make it to team this year I’ll encourage you to check out the following resources, and I hope to see you there next time!
My content - I’ve got some recorded content from team
Official live streams - Atlassian streamed some of the bigger talks, worth checking out
Local ACE events - Your local Atlassian Community chapter may have some events you can attend
