cutting through the noise: breaking down hierarchical communication channels and silos
TRANSCRIPT
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RON ROMAIN • PROGRAM MANAGER • ATLASSIAN • @URBANHICK
Cutting through the noiseBreaking down hierarchical communication channels and silos
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H O W AT L A S S I A N TA C K L E D I T
C O M M U N I C AT I O N I S H A R D
H O W I T W O R K S
Agenda
B E N E F I T S
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Communication is hard
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Communication is hard
You have a lot of teams
They all communicate quite well within themselves
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Communication is hard
But communication easily breaks down between geos, products or businesses
You’ve developed some communications silos and hierarchies. Within these silos comms work well, but start break down between
silos and as you travel up the hierarchy.
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Communication is hard
Communication tends to be constrained to relatively closely related/located teams
So in large organizations communication tends to naturally flow up a hierarchy then over to another silo, and possibly back down.
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Communication is hard
What we need is to flatten these classic hierarchical communications structures
Bringing it back to the source of the information, the teams themselves. Allowing for quicker and more accurate
communication.
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Communication is hard
What you want is a communications web
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Communication is hard
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Communication is hard
Ensuring it’s easy to find, accurate, up-to-date and complete
Where anyone can sources needed information
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How Atlassian Tackled it
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We’re growing, a lot
300+ Active Projects
Over 1/2 of which have been here less than a year
12 Different GeosAcross the globe, all in different timezones
1200+ Employees
With many more in the pipeline
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Communication and transparency were
getting hard
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So we implemented Project Central
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Central locationCommon languageCommunications tool
Project Central
• What are we doing?
• Why are we doing it?
• How do we judge success?
• When will it ship?
• How are we tracking?
• Who is the full-time owner?
• Better communication channels and shared understanding around what we’re doing through a common language and process.
• Updated on a weekly basis.
• All “projects” will be discoverable in the same central location
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Project Central
Common scale across Atlassian
Designed to be a cross section of every “project” that's in progress at the team level (2-6 Engineers).
Anything over 1 person month of effort or larger makes it in.
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Open Company, No B%llshit
Communication
If you slip a date, or go off-track call it out
No big-brotherFTO’s shouldn’t feel like they’re being watched or monitored
Keep info honest
In the end, it’s simply a platform for better communication
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How it works
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Built on JIRA
How it works
6 Standard Questions
Components & LabelsCommon definition of how to define/describe a project
Standard and ad-hoc grouping via components & labels
Data stored in a JIRA project and tickets so the power of JIRA and existing integrations can be used
Same 6 questions on all tickets, no further customisation, keep it simple.
Used to group by business/product, program of work, or ad-hoc grouping
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Custom integrationsCustom reportsWeekly emails
Communication channels (Pull)
Using Confluence and the JIRA issues macro an endless number of reports/views can be created
Weekly customized emails generated every Sunday to inform subscribers of the current project status
Any system that has access to JIRA data can display Project Central information
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Every ticket you’re watching
Weekly Emails
Any dependancies
Highlights new projectsRaises visibility of new projects
Highlights important changes
Sends a short update for every project you’re “Watching”
Sends a short update for any dependancies your projects have
Highlights any new projects kicked off this week
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Custom Reports JIRA Issues Macro
w/any JQL search
Include any fields
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Benefits
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Better visibility =
less duplication
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Shared language =
better shared understanding
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Pull communication channels not Push
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Thank you!
RON ROMAIN • PROGRAM MANAGER • ATLASSIAN • @URBANHICK