In the wake of the pandemic, we explore attitudes to agile adoption rates, and ask what’s still stopping some organisations from embracing this essential approach?

2020 changed the game. Organisations had to adapt to survive, decisions had to be made fast, and resilience became the must-have characteristic. For those businesses that had already embraced agility, quick-thinking and fast-moving were built into their DNA. They found themselves in a much better position than those less-agile organisations who were forced to recognise that a new way of working was more than likely inevitable.

Research by McKinsey points to five characteristics that set these agile organisations apart: 

Set structures in place that allow for fast decision-making

Work in networks of local teams with clear accountable goals

Provide people with the tech and tools they need

McKinsey mentioned Intel UK, which relied on its decision-making forums to quickly reallocate resources and shift employee focus to government, education, and healthcare; including building partnerships with pharmaceutical organisations to help with vaccine production and empowering staff to look for new opportunities to make a difference. Another example of agile thinking was a UK grocer that made a one-meeting decision to close all its fresh meat and fish counters and reassign staff to other high-need jobs.

The characteristics highlighted by the McKinsey study are aligned with the 12 principles set out in the Agile Manifesto over two decades ago. They included welcoming changing requirements even late in development; ensuring daily collaboration and face-to-face conversations; and the importance of self-organising teams who reflect on their effectiveness and fine-tune as they go.

It’s clear that the organisations that fared best in 2020 were those that had already taken agile transformation seriously or stepped up when the pandemic hit. And there are a lot of them. Agile adoption is on the rise – our State of Atlassian 2021 survey showed that there was a 5 percent increase in organisations embracing an agile approach – from 77 percent in 2020 to 82 percent in 2021. 

But what does it mean to say your organisation is doing agile? Picking up the right tools and implementing processes are important, but if that’s all you’re doing, you’re among the many businesses still missing a trick. Agile is not just something you do, it’s something you are. 

And that’s where the biggest barrier still lies. Nearly three quarters (74 percent) of our survey respondents were hoping that scaling agile across the organisation would help them align strategy with delivery, but to see any real benefits, the whole organisation – from top to bottom – needs to undergo a mammoth mindset shift. Sadly, many less-agile companies merely practice some rote processes (often poorly) and call it a day. That’s “Fake Agile,” as Jon Kern puts it.

Thinking with agility means not just doing what’s comfortable or easy, or what we’ve been conditioned to do, but working through difficulties, challenging the way things are done, and facing problems head-on. In practice, that means embracing change and collaboration; depending on small, self-organising, cross-functional teams; and valuing quality, inspection, and adaptation above all else. Upper management needs to support the autonomy of their coworkers so that innovation has a chance to flourish. 

You also have to recognise that what works today based on your current people and processes might not be suitable a few months down the line if things need to change. With this thinking embedded across the organisation, you’ll be able to change quickly, strategise and restructure as necessary, and create value, scale, and succeed in a turbulent environment. 

If you’ve put techniques, tools, and rituals in place, ask yourself if your attitude matches up. Are you and your people thinking with an agile mindset or just going through the motions and exhibiting command-and-control behaviour? 

The benefits might sound essential and obvious, but resistance (typically self-induced) is a big problem for a lot of organisations looking to shift thinking en masse. A sizable 40 percent of our respondents claimed that the status quo was working fine without agile. The same number said they were focused on other priorities, while 25 percent felt uncertain about whether investing in agile would reap worthwhile rewards.

Download the full report to find out more about agile, DevOps and the Atlassian ecosystem.

It’s likely that organisations such as these see agile transformation as a costly box-ticking exercise. Their eyes have yet to be opened to the benefits of working this way. But despite the outliers, the future’s looking bright for agile. For those that have not yet made the switch, there are clear intentions to do so. Almost half of the respondents (42 percent) to our survey said they planned to adopt agile in the next year. 

If you’re just getting started on your agile journey or thinking about taking the plunge, there’s never been a better time to make your mind up, and make it agile. 

Agile adoption is on the rise – our 2021 State of Atlassian Ecosystem report shows a 5 percent increase in organisations embracing an agile approach – from 77 percent in 2020 to 82 percent in 2021. But what does it mean to say your organisation is ‘doing' agile?

Discover what it means to be agile in today's fast moving business environment.

Why you need to ‘think agile’ and ‘be agile’

Here at Adaptavist we’re no stranger to digital transformation, and work with clients globally to help them boost agility and overcome their business challenges with our Transformation Solutions. 

Our digital transformation expert John Turley has recently spoken to our reseller partner Carahsoft in their podcast, Carahcast, to discuss how cross-functional team collaboration and more autonomy is the key to digital transformation success.

Handy advice from our digital transformation expert

- Digital transformation success factors 

- How digital transformation requires a shift in mindset

- How the public sector can most benefit from digital transformation

In the Carahcast podcast, John discussed how, for successful digital transformation to take place, change needs to occur across people, processes and tools, with technology supporting the processes by which people are working cross-functionally. 

By using digital technology and processes to collaborate, teams can reorganise to work more innovatively, and reimagine their current ways of working to become more efficient. However this requires a change in mindset, and then a cultural shift, as well as engineering new processes and implementing new tools. 

In order for organisations to reach their digital transformation goals, they need to remove siloes, and enable cross-functional teams to work more autonomously and collaboratively, to create value for themselves and their customers. 

The keys to successful digital transformation

Hear more of John Turley's digital transformation insights.

Expert advice from John Turley in the Carahsoft podcast - Carahcast

Digital transformation podcast

Our digital transformation expert John Turley, answers "what is digital transformation?" and delves into ...

Carahcast podcast - Digital Transformation with Atlassian

A sumptuous buffet of updates, news, and bug fixes from all around the #Atlassian ecosystem awaits you as your hosts Brenda, Matthew, and Ryan dish on all that's hot right now.   

Adaptavist is now an Atlassian Specialized Partner: Agile at Scale
https://www.adaptavist.com/blog/atlassian-specialized-partner-agile-at-scale

Atlassian Cloud Updates, 05.07-19.07
https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloud/blog/2021/07/atlassian-cloud-changes-jul-5-to-jul-12-2021

https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloud/blog/2021/07/atlassian-cloud-changes-jul-12-to-jul-19-2021

BitBucket Blog: Changes to Bitbucket Pipelines due to crypto mining abuse
https://bitbucket.org/blog/changes-to-bitbucket-pipelines-due-to-crypto-mining-abuse

New JQL Editor
https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Jira-Announcement-Unlock-the-power-of-search-with-the-new-JQL/ba-p/1750670

Codegeist 2021
https://blog.developer.atlassian.com/codegeist-2021-announcement/

Jira 8.18.x, JSD 4.18.x REMOVED DUE TO BUG
https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftware/jira-software-8-18-x-release-notes-1064094444.html

BitBucket 7.14.1
https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucketserver/bitbucket-data-center-and-server-7-14-release-notes-1069876097.html

Bitbucket Blog: Encountering some turbulence on Bitbucket’s journey to a new platform
https://bitbucket.org/blog/encountering-some-turbulence-on-bitbuckets-journey-to-a-new-platform

Hello and welcome to Adaptavist Live: The Atlassian Ecosystem Podcast. This is episode 122, the Bitbucket's full. I'm your host Ryan Spilken and joining me for this rock is clean-out of news from all around the Atlassian ecosystem are Brenda Burrell and Matthew Stublefield. Brenda and Mathew, hello.

Oh, what a pleasure. It is a hot one out there and maybe that's because all the weight of this news is compacting it, and the heat is rising.

I don't think you know how Physics works.

No. Actually, I read a book about it once, it was called... If you could all see the look Brenda just gave me.

Okay, all right. Enough of that tomfoolery, folks. We have big, epic enterprise-scale news to talk about, and let's go ahead and begin. Joining us now is Agile at Scale consulting team lead and former podcast guest Rizwan Hasan. Riz, thanks so much.

Hey Ryan, how's it going? Good to be here.

Always a pleasure to see you, sir. Not moved to Europe yet, I see.

Not yet. Almost there though. I'm actually getting married next month. Pretty excited.

Oh man. I'm so excited for you. But, Riz, you're not here to talk about the wedding plans, even though I can't wait to hear more. You're here to talk about Adaptavist newest certification from Atlassian. What is that certification?

So that certification is the agile at scale specialization. That was a specialization that Atlassian has granted its platinum partners who've shown that they can deploy Jira Align into a complex enterprise customer environment.

Tell me about the journey that our team went on to earn this certification.

So the journey started in 2019 when a small group of folks, travel to Atlassian's offices in Austin. And we did a bootcamp. It was right after Atlassian purchased AgileCraft. So, the former company that had produced the tool and acquired it into Atlassian's kind of ecosystem and kind of product family. And it was a new tool. It was a lot to learn, and it was a big step for Atlassian to reach a market for customers who had used Jira for years, but really needed a way to kind of scale visibility up to higher levels. JIRA out of the box really couldn't do that. There were solutions in place, but Jira Align was the product that Atlassian was betting on, it was that was really going to take on Atlassian to the next level, in terms of having a real enterprise kind of tooling ecosystem under its belt.

So they invited a few select partners Adaptavist included, to really start to learn about this. And once that bootcamp was completed, it took two weeks. I was in Austin, Texas, had a great time there, met a lot of cool folks. Shout out to Matt McGee from Atlassian, who was our bootcamp trainer. After that, it was basically to the races and we started to work with customers who were implementing Jira Align and we've been on that journey until very recently. This happened and this journey took... was not a straight line. It took a lot of windy roads. We failed a few times. We failed fast, we learned, we iterated.

And now I'm kind of proud to say that I think our Jira Align offering is probably one of the best in the market because we've actually done it. We've lived it, we've made the mistakes and we know where those mistakes can come from a technical point of view, from a change management point of view, from a people point of view, from a process point of view. And we're pretty excited to be recognized by Atlassian in this space and it's giving us a lot of energy here.

That is fantastic. However, when you start to look at enterprise organizations and implementing agile at scale, it has to be about more than the tool, right? So what have we brought to the table outside of just knowing how to configure the correct options in Align?

So along this journey, we really learned the toughest part about these implementations and to your point, it's not about the tools here, it's about people and process. And one thing that Adaptavist actually has a very strong team, on the ground is a team that focuses on this type of people and process change transformation. So when we talk about Jira Align and talk about actually deploying it, we actually start this with a people and process conversation. We look at what things are you doing today as an organization that can or cannot scale, right? And that's different for everybody. And part of that involves really looking deeply into your wider ecosystem as an organization and understanding where you deliver value. So one thing we really focus on in the beginning of a customer engagement is understanding and identifying your value stream and playing it back to you.

And what's really interesting when we work with customers is that sometimes even with stakeholders in the same department or same business unit, they have wildly different ideas on what their value stream is and how they deliver value. And if your people aren't aligned in that way and how you deliver value, then the tool isn't going to solve your problem. That's where the real challenges with a Jira Align implementation is that it's not a tooling problem. Once you have your people and processes set and agreed on, and people are excited about it, then the tooling becomes a no brainer, it's easy to do that. But the tough part, the challenging part and the fun and rewarding part is the beginning steps of kind of understanding and really aligning the organization to what the value stream is and how you want to be able to capture that in a tool and visualize it.

Wow, Riz, well, congratulations on the Agile at Scale certification and, really excited to see you go through this journey to become such a master at the scaled agile practice, tremendous man.

Far from a master, but I appreciate the props Ryan. I'm getting there.

And now, let's take a look in the cloud, where there are, well to put it nicely, just a whole lot of updates for you as an admin or as an end-user. Let's look at what's available on the Jira platform at large. The first item is you're now able to view all items and their subtasks in your calendar. So you can have a better view when accessing your calendar of what work is due when. And with somebody who has a lot of deadlines, I could see that being quite a view, quite a nerve-wracking view to access. In the issue view, you'll now be able to see emails when picking out a user. So when picking users for fields on the issue view such as assigning a user, you can see their email underneath their name. This is going to apply to both single-user picker and the multi-user picker fields. So this now means you can quickly differentiate people on your team with the same name. I don't know how often that's a problem that you've run into.

No more asking people to legally change their names, to differentiate them in the user papers.

Well, and not just that, but it's surprising to me because you guys probably recall a few years ago, the scaling back of user information that was visible in the UI for security purposes. And everything was getting really abstracted and apps can no longer pick up usernames and I was actually kind of surprised to see that we can now see both name and email, because when you combine two pieces of information, it becomes protected identity information. And so having name plus email could potentially... Be that, I'm happy. I think it's helpful.

Yeah, interesting to see where that goes in the future.

I do wonder what hoops that legal had to jump through to get this through.

In the roadmap function, you're now able to filter by overlapping dates. So this new overlapping filter will only show the dependencies that require your attention on the timeline. I like what they had to say about it, that it's not the best signal lighting up when Goffin needs help, but it'll help you find dependencies that need some attention. Team managed projects have some new keyboard-oriented functions available. One is control F when using a team managed project, now control F will take you directly into search and continuing on the theme of keyboard shortcuts Atlassian has heard that some people prefer to work with issues with the keyboard. So they've added more actions to the .menu. So to check out these options, just press the dot while you're viewing an issue, and you'll see a menu of the actions which include workflow transitions, admin settings, if you're an admin and more.

Those of you in countries like United States, I call this the period.

... users can now gain access to the project stages each key, if it's enabled on a project. Users on approved email domains can select the joint confluence button and they'll be able to access it and start using projects right away. Users who aren't on approved email domains will have to request access by selecting the request access button. You'll find links to all of this news in our show notes. In the new issue view, automatic assignee is now available. When you're editing an issue, you can now choose the automatic option, which will assign the issue to either the default assignee of the project or one of the issues components. The project menu has also been improved. Atlassian is improving this menu to help navigate projects with ease and find your work faster.

As part of this work, they've made the following initial updates, and this is rolling out. You might not see this. Matthew probably doesn't have it yet. Menu items are now grouped into categories that describe the software development life cycle, which would be planning, development and operations, and in company-managed projects, the board switcher has had some visual updates to better delineate board scoped views like backlog and reports.

Let's see, sit here, shaking my head and sign aliases. Like my project management red light is going off of like so you just decided that our, our software development life cycle is planning development and operations and that's it.

And this is in the platform updates, not the Jira software updates when we've been told for years, anybody can use Jira. You don't have to use.

Well, and because in the platform updates and referring to projects, are we talking about the project templates in confluence. The phrasing suggests that it's in Jira software, but it's hard to say. So I like the idea, categorization of menu options and be able to do that. Would have preferred to see it be modifiable or translatable, because they've used like the INI and stuff in the past to maybe where you can translate certain and new options or that the admin can create categories and group things together in a way that works for their users. I think planning development operations one is just word choices and two is like, that is how it works.

What do you mean Matthew? You don't plan, develop and operate? I mean, really?

It's quite a bit different from say our instructional design workflow or technical writing, or even some of the software development [crosstalk 00:13:44] you do with this, it's of a bit of a different cycle.

Well, remember, these are just [crosstalk 00:13:46] categories with which projects are lumped in for navigation purposes, not for necessarily sorting the work that happens in them. That being said, it's clumsy, maybe. Yeah. Moving on with another platform-wide update-

Because if you say you're [crosstalk 00:14:05] search on that.

... depends on items. I'm just going further in depth. We've talked about dependencies being indicated with click and drag recently, and now you can add these dependencies in the timeline view, and you'll have some more options to define that relationship. Now, if you remember that one time where I couldn't remember the word that to indicate the connection between two issues, that was a good time. Yeah. All right.

... this is a big time-saver. When linking one issue to another, in the issue view along with searching for the issue, you can now just simply copy and paste the issue URL. So you don't have to go through the process of searching. You can just drop in the link, because I know you have it open in another tab already. Come on. Who are we kidding here? So, give that a shot. Jira Software Cloud has a few updates as well, specific to the software platform. And the first is that the deployments feature has been enabled for all projects with deployments data. When you have a code development tool integrated with your Jira project, deployments feature will be enabled to give you visibility into your deployment pipelines guest against issues over a timescale. Jira Service Management has now added outsider comments to be added to ticket via email. You can now allow external emails containing a valid issue, key to be added as a comment to an issue. There is further documentation available on this update. And of course, we'll link you to that.

Turning our wandering gaze to Confluence Cloud, the first big update is sort of several things all tied together, under the heading of creating blogs and top-level pages from the sidebar. So, in your space, you can now use the plus button next to a blogger page sections in the space sidebar, you can more quickly take actions from the cyber to do common tasks, such as editing, renaming a page, following a page or starring it, that you've got it listed as a favorite, getting the link per page. So for all of these, you're just hovering over a page title in the left nav, and you get this more action menu that pops up. So for all of these, you just hover over a page title in the left tab, and this sort of more action menu will appear.

So you wouldn't necessarily know it was there until you hovered over it, and then you get the little dots to click on that, and then you'll have this list of actions for the page, which is pretty cool. One of the things I think is interesting with this is it follows sort of a design pattern that was tried in Jira of moving a bunch of stuff to a left sort of sidebar nav, which my understanding kind of through the grapevine was that user response that was pretty negative. And since then, a lot of that has moved back to the top nav. So I think it's interesting to see the decision here to move stuff into the left navigate influence, it is different. It's a different implementation, it's different tools, but I'm curious to see how users respond to it and how discoverable, some of these things will be given that there are... a lot of the actions are hidden behind a hover menu, a more menu that you only see on hover.

But Atlassian has lots of analytics. Beyond all that, if the person who's logging in doesn't have permission to do one of these things, the action's grayed out, along with info stating there are restrictions. I wouldn't say much, you can go and talk to an administrator on how you could [crosstalk 00:17:33].

See this company because I was one of those people who was watching the Hackathon at summit 2016. And one of the teams made a plugin that allowed users to really robustly edit the Confluence page, yeah, Trinab. And so that got me all excited-

A sumptuous buffet of updates, news, and bug-fixes from all around the #Atlassian ecosystem await you as your hosts Brenda, Matthew, and Ryan dish on all that's hot right now.

The Atlassian Ecosystem Podcast Ep. 122 - The BitBucket's Full

A sumptuous buffet of updates, news, and bug-fixes from all around the #Atlassian ecosystem await you as ...

Transcript: The Atlassian Ecosystem Podcast Ep. 122 - The BitBucket's Full

Want efficient cost-conscious services with improved visibility across your whole organisation? Look no further than ESM.

If you’re up to speed on IT service management (or ITSM) – the way IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services to the organisation – you might have heard the term ESM bandied around. But what exactly is it? ESM stands for enterprise service management and it extends ITSM practices to non-IT teams and the wider business. Let’s take a closer look…

Enterprise service management (ESM) aims to improve efficiency, reduce risk, and transform the user experience. It takes a service-oriented business model and applies that same thinking to internal operations, whatever they might be. Each department, whether it’s HR, marketing, accounting, or any other team, is providing a service that the rest of the organisation depends on. Every team’s role is intrinsic to the success of the business and has an impact on the end customer. 

The more efficient internal operations are, the more productive and profitable the business can be. This results in more value for your customers. ESM helps to make offering and delivering those internal services simple and efficient. Typically through the use of a service management solution, such as Jira Service Management, – one central place where every employee can access all the available services across the organisation.

Cut the costs of interdepartmental interactions

Drive process efficiency without compromising on time or quality

As the name suggests, ITSM is all about the way a business delivers IT services. By transforming its activities, policies, and processes, an IT team can improve deployment and management of everything it does – from fixing your computer to implementing organisation-wide software updates. Applying the principles learnt in ITSM across the business leads to improved performance and responsiveness, and a more effective service. It also allows an organisation to measure where they’re doing well and where they can identify opportunities for continuous service improvements. 

While ESM borrows widely from ITSM, there is one distinct difference. A lot of ESM activity depends on multiple teams to work together to achieve results. Collaboration is key, which means there’s an even greater dependence on shared tools, practices, processes, and workflows.

Self-service support and an agile approach

ESM takes the best of ITSM principles and applies them to suit different needs within the business, depending on the department. Some practices will make obvious sense, no matter the team, such as knowledge management. A self-service approach to information, knowledge management is based around having a single portal where everyone can access information that enables them to support themselves.

ITSM is frequently based on ITIL 4, an evolution of the longstanding ITSM framework. This latest version is designed specifically to move organisations away from the heavy, prescriptive requirements associated with ITSM to a flexible way of working that integrates more easily with agile and DevOps processes. It’s focused around a ‘service value system’ – a holistic model that represents how the various components that make up an organisation work together to create value.

Our content team implemented some enterprise service management principles, and it transformed the way they worked.

How ESM transformed our Content Marketing team

Enterprise Service Management has the potential to revolutionise service creation, service management, and service delivery across your organisation – key components in your digital transformation. Here are just some of the many benefits ESM could bring.

One condensed system makes keeping track of tickets a breeze and helping teams stay on top of everything. Some tasks can be automated, reducing wait times and maximising resources.

ESM processes and reports give you the knowledge you need to take care of the highest priority items first. You can also identify bottlenecks and make sure actions are taken in the most logical order, rather than using guess-work or reacting to those who shout the loudest.

ESM might seem like an internal transformation, but it has a significant knock-on effect on your end-customers too. Improving access to services for employees means common issues are resolved quickly, leaving more time to focus on delivering value.

One big benefit of using Jira Service Management  over other ESM solutions is that you can expose it to the customers of the company for free. Allowing the customers to directly raise their requests to the right part of an organisation through a customer facing portal. As your people become more proficient at using the tool, productivity will increase across the board.

ESM’s built-in emphasis on automation means your teams will spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks and have more resources for high-level work. You’ll reduce your administrative burden and create value for customers in the process.

Bringing all your services together in one place means incredible insights into how you’re managing day-to-day operations and strategic metrics to ensure your functions are in line with your business objectives.

Enhanced visibility encourages a greater understanding of different departments and a unified approach to cross-functional tasks. Automation and one central portal helps move processes along more quickly, ensures effective communication, and supports collaboration between teams.

Enterprise Service Management extends the valuable experience from implementing ITSM to your whole organisation. If you start seeing each business function as a service, and your employees as vital users who depend on those services, you will be on your way to creating even more value for your actual customers as you scale. boosting efficiency, minimising risk, and revolutionising the user experience is all within your grasp.

To find out more about how to accelerate your digital transformation with enterprise service management, watch our webinar. 

This webinar will show you the benefits of shifting from ITSM to ESM practices, and the importance of being able to scale while remaining agile and competitive

Everything you need to know about Enterprise Service Management. Find out how you can do it too.

What is Enterprise Service Management?

Want efficient cost-conscious services with improved visibility across your whole organisation? Look no f...

Enterprise Service Management - Everything you need to know

When planning a move from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud, one of the key considerations is deciding the right migration strategy to adopt. Organisations can run into huge problems when beginning a project without the due diligence and analysis to determine the correct migration approach. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and the right choice will depend on your specific business goals and scenarios. In this blog post, we’ve outlined the various migration strategies at your disposal to help you ensure best business value at the lowest possible cost and risk.

Discover what makes it worth the move and if it’s the right choice for your organisation.

Is Atlassian Cloud right for my business?

As the name suggests, this is an “all at once” migration where you migrate an entire data set to Atlassian Cloud in a single migration window, involving a predetermined downtime. You will first need to carry out an in depth analysis of which data set to leave behind on your server instance, and which to move to Cloud. 

It is key to evaluate whether it makes sense to migrate all of your legacy application data to the new system. Take the time to really understand what data can be reused and what changes to the data might be needed. This will help you ensure that your instances are tidy and eliminate hidden legacy data challenges. 

For instance, you should avoid transferring unused workflows, custom fields in Jira, unused pages in Confluence etc. to the new system if you’re looking to minimise the risk and cost associated with the migration effort. Once a thorough evaluation is done, you can effectively switch over to the new environment immediately.

As daunting as it may sound, this approach can be quite effective in some cases. If your environment is reasonably small – say fewer than 5,000 users and 10 apps – then big bang might be the best approach. Your project can be completed faster, ensuring reduced migration downtime.

However, the main issues with this approach start to occur when the instances to be migrated are complex, users are numerous, there is a vast amount of data to consider etc. In such scenarios, a big bang approach would likely be unmanageable, demand a huge number of engineering resources, and cause a lot of problems.

A phased approach tackles the migration of data from the Server environment to Atlassian Cloud in clearly defined stages – rather than all at once.​ Each increment or update of the new environment undergoes testing to identify and resolve bugs before the next phase occurs.

If going this route, consider breaking it down by team or business unit and migrating them to Atlassian Cloud one by one. You can start by migrating minimal essential data to the new environment first, working out any issues or challenges and onboarding new users in each stage. 

As teams switch over to the new system, you need to identify the remaining legacy data that might be required for governance purposes, and store it in a format such as CSV that could be easily imported if needed.

For large scale or complex Server instances, a phased approach is unquestionably the recommended strategy for migration. Small changes done over stages allow everyone in your team to get comfortable with the new system gradually, with the least amount of confusion and/or risk. You can identify issues and resolve them before they affect more areas of your organisation. The information that you learn from the initial phases can make the subsequent ones easier and smoother.

However, the outcome of a phased approach is eventually an extended migration period. The implication for a staggered timeline is higher cost of migration, greater efforts, and potential loss in business, if not planned well.

Also, it can be more complex to effectively manage the running of two systems in tandem during the transition, until the entire migration is complete.

This approach is used when you’re starting fresh and/or with no restrictions or dependencies on existing Server data. 

For instance, if you use Jira Service Management and are confident that you no longer require access to old tickets, you can opt for this method. Similarly, when you are spinning up a new team, this method can be a superb choice. 

The obvious advantage is that you get a chance to migrate to the new cloud environment immediately. It offers you a clean slate to streamline your migration to Atlassian Cloud since there is no compulsion to work within the constraints of existing systems or processes. However, if you still need access to old project/space data, this approach isn’t viable.

Picking the correct migration strategy is a vital part of getting your journey off on the right foot — and most importantly making sure it aligns with your unique business goals and complexities. Of course there’s more to planning an Atlassian Cloud migration than what’s detailed in this blog. But we hope it will help steer you in the right direction or perhaps even prompt you to consider something you haven't thought about yet.

If you’d like to learn more about planning your journey from Atlassian Server to Cloud, why not get in touch!

When planning a move from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud, one of the key considerations is deciding the right migration strategy to adopt.

Strategies for Migrating from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud

Learn about strategies for migrating from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud.

Strategies for migrating from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud

Adaptavist, experts in enterprise software and solutions, announced it has become an official Atlassian Specialized Partner in Agile at Scale. A validation of Atlassian’s Platinum Enterprise Solution Partner’s deep knowledge, extensive experience, and delivery of consistent, high-quality services to optimize customer satisfaction and outcomes.	

Adaptavist becomes an official Atlassian Specialized Partner in Agile at Scale

Adaptavist has achieved the Atlassian Agile at Scale Specialization since the program was launched on May 11th, 2021.

"Atlassian would like to recognize our Agile at Scale Specialized Partners who are now process certified, scaled agile practitioners with proven experience in enterprise methodology and change management to guide customer enterprise through their agile journey with Jira Align,” said Martin Musierowicz, Atlassian's Head of Global Channel.

“The level of commitment in the Agile at Scale Specialization Program recognizes these Atlassian Partners' effort and dedication to delivering consistent, high-quality services to optimize customer satisfaction and success.”

Adaptavist becomes an official Atlassian Specialized Partner in Agile at Scale.

Atlassian Specialized Partner: Agile at Scale

Press Release for Partner Specialization- Adaptavist

Adaptavist becomes Atlassian Specialized Partner: Agile at Scale

If you want to create anything in large volumes – from cars to cupcakes – you need to have a standardised manufacturing process. It makes it easier for you to know what’s going on across the business, control the quality, and make changes if necessary. And the same is true for software development and delivery.

To make your DevOps initiative a success and to ensure CI/CD can thrive, you will need to bring in the best tools to meet your requirements and then standardise them across the organisation. This helps streamline implementation across the organisation by using a common platform, common practices and common reporting processes. There is an initial effort in getting tool standardisation set up, but once everything’s in place, your team can focus more on enhancing your products and less on the system details involved in delivery.

When it comes to standard toolsets, there are lots to choose from, but that doesn’t make it an easy choice. You may already have a variety of tools in use by your teams, and there will be a number of favourites among your developers. So it’s important to take a step back and examine the pros and cons of any option that’s on the table in relation to your organisation’s needs.

Difficult decisions aside, there are plenty of benefits to look forward to if you go down a standardisation path. Let’s take a look at some of the big ones.

With a centralised approach your teams will have a better global view of how everything’s working across the organisation. That means they’ll be better placed to recognise where best practice is in place and where it’s lacking. And with all teams on the same tools, tracking and monitoring work is simplified, making it easier to gain useful, actionable insights.

A good DevOps initiative is built on a collaborative approach – a mindset that actively encourages and facilitates the sharing of ideas, metrics, processes, and technologies. But collaboration between developers working in different teams is easier said than done, particularly where competition comes into play, and even more so when they’re using different tools. Standardisation puts rivalries aside and enables test and deployment patterns to emerge. The best ways of working rise to the surface and are quickly adopted by all teams.

And developers aren’t the only ones who benefit from standardisation. Complex systems take a lot of time to manage for your IT team. With multiple independent tools, maintenance can be tricky, and your system will likely be more vulnerable as a result. From installation and repair to patching and upgrades, not to mention training staff how to use everything, a less standardised approach is a nightmare. But if all your equipment is aligned, your IT team can become experts in maintaining it.

When it comes to security and keeping systems safe, a simple set-up is ideal. With standardisation comes simplification, making your IT environment easier to protect. IT teams won’t be stretched thin trying to understand and monitor numerous services. Instead, they’ll become familiar with the core technology everyone’s using and the way they’re using it, and be able to recognise suspicious activity as soon as it occurs.

With a collaborative culture and a standardised technology stack, you’re in a better position to implement CI/CD practices like version control, streamline database code changes, and automate testing. You’ll also see fewer errors, happier people, and reap the benefits of being able to move team members around, confident that they’ll know how to get on with the job, wherever they are in the organisation.

Complex systems can be costly – the more tools in the mix, the more you have to spend on support and training. Plus, you can’t take advantage of larger, enterprise licences if only a few people are using a particular tool. Standardisation streamlines these costs, simplifies billing and procurement, allows you to upgrade equipment in larger quantities at a better price, and optimises how you use the software you’re paying for. 

Scaling fully automated IT systems can take time and be expensive, but with standardisation, your simpler network of base components can be easily replicated and added to. Take scalable steps in the right direction by focusing on the highest-value opportunities first, such as customer-facing components. Standardised automated testing that measures performance and security gives managers insights that can help them to refine planning, allocate resources more effectively, and improve product and service quality.

Standardisation goes far beyond evaluating tools – it’s important to consider your culture, goals, and processes too and figure out where this cohesion makes the most sense. In some cases, such as with legacy projects, standardising tools might be too disruptive and not worth the effort. 

Don’t forget about your other tools either – you’ll need a standardised toolset that can be integrated with your essential software. And don’t get carried away with trends or new shiny options. Just because something’s popular, it doesn’t mean it’s right for your organisation.

To find out more about CI/CD, its significant role within DevOps, and best practice for implementation, contact us today.

To make your DevOps initiative a success and to ensure CI/CD can thrive, you will need to bring in the best tools to meet your requirements and then standardise them across the organisation.

The organisation-wide benefits of standardising your CI/CD tools

To make your DevOps initiative a success and to ensure CI/CD can thrive, you will need to bring in the be...

We are thrilled that our Head of DevOps, Matt Saunders, has been asked by IT Pro Portal to take a look at the world of DevOps as we slowly emerge from the pandemic. What changes have we seen during the lockdown and what new technologies and ways of working will transform the ‘new normal’ we find ourselves in? 

The rise of video conferencing and messaging platforms have changed the way we connect and communicate, but what does that mean for DevOps teams, and how can they communicate effectively across the entire organisation remotely? 

From automation through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to security and communication, we explore how teams can collaborate seamlessly and deliver great product using the right tools, techniques, and behaviours — all while rising to new challenges. 

Learn more about what DevOps teams should focus on for success.

To overcome the challenges we have faced in a soon to be post pandemic world, we must communicate and collaborate using modern tools.

In the press: Communication, automation and security – how DevOps teams can thrive in the post-Covid era

To overcome the challenges we have faced in a soon to be post pandemic world, we must communicate and col...

At Adaptavist, we’re always striving to meet - and exceed - industry standards for privacy and security. This is especially important in the Cloud, where trust is paramount and customers demand products and solutions that are safe, secure and reliable, without compromising on performance and quality.

That’s why we’re delighted to announce that four of Adaptavist's apps have achieved Atlassian Cloud Fortified status! 

Cloud Fortified apps have been approved and certified by Atlassian. These Cloud apps meet higher standards for three main pillars: security, reliability and support. The certification is designed specifically to meet the needs of Premium and Enterprise Atlassian customers, however all customers can benefit from the trust and security these apps offer.

To achieve Cloud Fortified certification, enterprise-grade apps must meet Atlassian’s cloud security requirements and Atlassian-aligned performance and reliability standards, adhere to stringent support SLAs, and participate in additional cloud security programmes. 

Which Adaptavist apps are Cloud Fortified?

The leading automation and customisation app for Jira. Extend Jira’s capabilities and open up a world of functionality you didn’t know was possible.

Manage Confluence pages, spaces and users with this powerful, all-in-one Confluence admin solution.

Try ScriptRunner for Confluence Cloud here.

Content Formatting Macros for Confluence Cloud

Create more appealing and engaging Confluence content. Make content more streamlined, visually impressive and easy to engage with.

Try Content Formatting Macros for Confluence Cloud here. 

Extend Jira’s search functionality to make finding issues in Jira easier, faster and more precise.

With more people moving to the Cloud than ever before, security will continue to be a major priority for users. Cloud Fortified apps provide an additional layer of trust for partners and customers.

The certification helps customers to identify the most secure, reliable and supported cloud apps, so they can rest assured they’re getting the most trustworthy products on the marketplace. It also highlights apps that are aligned with Atlassian Premium and Enterprise levels. For us at Adaptavist, our Cloud Fortified status showcases our ongoing commitment to providing the most secure apps to our customers.

What’s the difference between Cloud Fortified apps and regular apps?

Not all Cloud apps on the marketplace are Cloud Fortified. You’ll be able to recognise which ones have passed the rigorous approval criteria by looking out for the Cloud Fortified badge. This badge indicates:

Security is paramount when it comes to the Cloud, especially when securing information between third-party apps.

Cloud Fortified Apps meet Atlassian’s basic cloud security standards, as well as participating in the Bug Bounty programme and completing annual Atlassian-reviewed self-assessments.

Apps are critical for the day-to-day operations of many organisations. Cloud Fortified apps are less likely to experience bugs and extended downtime.

Additional checks for service reliability and performance at scale help keep enterprise customers protected. Cloud Fortified apps have core capabilities measured through service level indicators and objectives, with Atlassian-integrated incident and review processes.

Quick responses and resolutions can make all the difference for busy organisations.

Cloud Fortified apps are backed by a 24-hours-a-day, 5-days-a-week SLA, meaning problems are addressed with speed. Partners also participate on Atlassian support tickets for critical escalations to ensure more timely responses.

Cloud Fortified apps give you more peace of mind

We’ve been awarded Atlassian Partner of the Year 2020: Cloud Migration Services, and we can help you execute even the most complex migration.

We’re proud to be Cloud Fortified and recognised for the ongoing security efforts we’re making. But the work doesn’t stop there. To find out more about what we’re doing for our customers, take a look at our Trust, Security and Privacy Philosophy.

To achieve Cloud Fortified certification, enterprise-grade apps must meet Atlassian’s cloud security requirements and Atlassian-aligned performance and reliability standards.

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