Teaming Up at Atlassian Summit 2016
Jay, Scott and Mike kicked off Summit 2016 with the traditional fireside chat. They illustrated how important the team has been to Atlassian's development and its future.
They reflected on the foundation of the company and how even a company of two people needs to function as a team.
The IPO
A momentous occasion in the history of the company, Mike and Scott did 35 interviews in a few hours on the day of the IPO. Even on that day, there was a focus on the team. All the Atlassians who had been with the company for ten years or more were there at the NASDAQ on the day of the IPO.
Weekly all-hands
Jay asked what the biggest challenge for Mike and Scott now that company is a long way from its startup roots. With around 2,000 people around the world, Mike confirmed that there is a weekly all-hands call (using HipChat) to help them proactively communicate with staff. Scott outlined how hard it is ensure that they aren't a bottleneck to people across the business.
The importance of meeting people
Mike described how Summit is the most important opportunity to meet their users and get feedback to take into the products. Scott expanded to explain how important hearing people's success stories is at Summit.
The Culture track
This year Summit has a whole conference track on Culture. Tools alone don't help teams get better, he said, describing how Atlassian tools are a support to a wider change. Diversity, innovation and tactics that can help people influence and change their teams have been pulled together and Mike and Scott were keen to emphasise that culture isn't just something that should come from the top.
The importance of values and culture
Scott shared the Atlassian experience of how values change over time, framing how work gets done. There is now a Values element to the Atlassian interview process and there has been a focus on diversity in the organisation. Mike outlined how diversity is about a range of things, not least diversity of opinions and experiences, reflecting the fact that teams tend to be incredibly diverse in most organisations.
Check back for more updates from Atlassian Summit 2016.
