Atlassian's Innovative Approach to Design and Collaboration

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Atlassian, a leading software company known for its team collaboration tools like Jira and Confluence, faced the challenge of maintaining a coherent customer experience across its various products. The customer journey, from purchasing to using a product, involved multiple internal teams. The challenge was to ensure that the design was centralized across the organization and not split into product units. This was crucial to maintain a consistent user experience across all their products. Additionally, the company wanted to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration, where ideas could be freely discussed and critiqued, and where the focus was on continuous improvement and customer-centricity.

Atlassian is a leading software company based in Sydney, Australia. The company is known for its team collaboration tools, including Jira and Confluence. Atlassian has grown from a two-person startup to a dominant platform in its space with a valuation at IPO of more than $4 billion, all in a little over 10 years. The company achieved this remarkable growth without an internal sales team, relying instead on building great products, product simplicity, and model innovation. Atlassian's design team is committed to understanding the teams using their products and creating a coherent experience across all their offerings.

Atlassian implemented several innovative practices to address these challenges. One such practice was the Product Braintrust, an internal forum for strategic discussions inspired by Pixar's Braintrust. This forum involved founders, senior product leadership, and the Global Head of Design, who would discuss ideas presented by actual teams within the company. The focus was on helping the presenting team make the best decisions before building and shipping products. Another practice was the use of 'P Rules' for giving critiques, which ensured that the focus was on the presenting team rather than on critical feedback. Atlassian also emphasized starting with the customer in all presentations, whether it was a demo, deck, or something else. Research played a big part in product design prioritization, with a dedicated Research team focusing on customer happiness tracking, strategic research, and design research. Atlassian also fostered a community around design through regular Town Halls and an annual design week where all geographically dispersed designers, researchers, and writers were flown to Sydney to meet.

• Atlassian's innovative approach to design and collaboration has resulted in a number of qualitative benefits. The Product Braintrust and the use of 'P Rules' have fostered a culture of open discussion and critique, where the focus is on learning and improving rather than on criticism. This has helped the company to design across the seams of the organization and to make better decisions before building and shipping products. The emphasis on starting with the customer in all presentations has ensured that the customer remains at the center of all design decisions. The regular Town Halls and the annual design week have helped to build a strong community around design, fostering transparency and shared context across the entire company. The dedicated Research team has provided valuable insights that have helped to prioritize product design. Overall, these practices have helped Atlassian to maintain a coherent customer experience across all its products and to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.