Opening the ConversationHow Transparency Leads to Better Decision-Making

Who is Atlassian?

• Aussie Software company

• 15,000+ customers 110+ countries

• $100+ million in cumulative revenue

• Highly Transparent and open

Let’s Talk About

• Nature of Information Work• Transparency is key to Success• Example: Marketing Campaign

The Industrial Era

• IP is in the process• Strategic advantage

from how things were made:– Cost– Quality– Variety

The Information Age

• IP is in the people• Strategic advantage

from innovation:– Ideas– Listening– Adapting

Yet we still think “Industrially”

Develop-mentDevelop-mentProduct MgmtProduct Mgmt Quality AssuranceQuality Assurance MarketingMarketing

SalesSalesSupportSupportCustomerCustomer

When in reality…

Develop-mentDevelop-mentProduct MgmtProduct Mgmt Quality AssuranceQuality Assurance MarketingMarketing

SalesSalesSupportSupportCustomerCustomer

Assembly lines not for information

• Need to see upstream

• Need to see downstream

• Interactions too complex to formalize

• What’s the answer?

Extreme Transparency!

Transparency requires:

Fearless FeedbackFearless Feedback

People Opt-InPeople Opt-In

Kaizen MindsetKaizen Mindset

Open by defaultOpen by default

Conversations AnywhereConversations Anywhere

Subscribe to ConversationsSubscribe to

Conversations

Low Barriers to Participation

Low Barriers to Participation

Discover People and Content

Discover People and Content

Technology

TechnologyCultureCulture

To Connect All the Dots

Develop-mentDevelop-mentProduct MgmtProduct Mgmt Quality AssuranceQuality Assurance MarketingMarketing

SalesSalesSupportSupportCustomerCustomer

Enterprise Wiki

Enterprise Wiki

Example: Marketing Campaign

Started with an Ambitious Goal

• Raise $25,000 for Room To Read• 5-user licenses of Confluence and

JIRA • $5 each• 5 days only• Includes maint and

support

Campaign PlanningWiki for:• Project plan

– Timelines– Tasks

• Conversation– 52 Comments From:– Sales, Marketing, QA– Internal Systems,

Support, Engineering

Campaign Monitoring

Wiki for:• Real-time sales

metrics• Conversation

– 122 Comments– “Let's shut if off!”– “Hell No - take it as

far as it will go!”

The results

• Exceeded our goal 4x ($100k vs $25k)

• Transparency– Made everyone engaged– Gave Everyone has a voice– Provided Input from all areas of the

business– Allowed us to make the right decisions

THANK YOU

Learn More at:atlassian.com/confluence

Contact me at:twitter.com/barconati