What’s in a name?

That which is called Atlassian Summit, by any other name would still inspire.

Thank you for the inspiration Mr. William Shakespeare. 

To Summit or Not to Summit?

“What is Summit?” you may ask. My official answer is; the Atlassian Summit is an annual conference that takes place in California, USA, during the autumn. 

Summit is an experience like no other.  When I attended my first one, I was not prepared for my three-day journey. I had my first experience in September of 2014. That year, Summit was held in San Jose, California. 

Unofficially and just between you and me, and anyone else reading this blog post; The Summit is just too much fun to call it work!

Summit or Conference

One of the first things that struck me was the use of the word ‘summit’. I thought to myself, “Why not simply call it a conference?”

When I think of ‘summit’, I envision tops of Mountains. I also envision a meeting of people engaged in conversation; a sharing of thoughts and ideas to arrive at a solution. So what makes this gathering of people each year a ‘summit’? I ventured to understand. 

My journey began

On Tuesday, September 9^th of 2014, at O’dark thirty in the morning, I made my way to the airport; waited for my flight to begin boarding for San Jose, and grabbed a bite to eat. Many hours later, I disembarked from the airplane, collected my luggage and shared a cab to my hotel; thank you Uber. Once the hotel check-in was completed, I headed out to the AUG (Atlassian User Group) Leader luncheon and training. 

I need to state here, as an AUG Leader, the Summit experience is just a little different than the typical attendee’s experience.

Being that this experience was the first time I had ever attending the Summit and the first time my employer was sending anyone to the Summit, I found myself desiring to discover what the values for attending Summit could be. 

It turns out there several reasons to attend.

Networking – You are not alone. You will meet others that do what you do and use the tools that you use.

Be the first to know – Keynotes are not something to miss. They deliver up-to-date news in an exciting format.

Develop your skills – There are training sessions available Tuesday morning and afternoon. This allows you time to train with Atlassian developers, building your knowledge and more.

Let Loose – We have all heard the statement; ‘too much work makes for a dull person’. Okay, that may not be an exact quote, however, even so, the Summit provides plenty of opportunities to let loose and enjoy one’s self.

• Tuesday evening - There is the welcome dinner,
• Wednesday evening - the Summit Bash, and oh, there is … lean in… there is something called the Post Summit Bash. I heard rumors of there being an After Post Summit Bash… I never made it that far. Maybe this year (October 2016)!
• Thursday afternoon – After Ship-it there is a Social right outside the convention hall. Wow, I was glad I didn’t have to go and catch a flight right after; Let the Hops and Barley flow.

The last one is not hard to anticipate.  Can you guess what it is?

Leaving Motivated – When you leave Summit after Ship-it, you will have spent three days of fast learning curves, networking, speaking directly to Atlassian developers and product experts, being wined and dined, and building international relationships with product users from around the world. You will leave Summit motivated to return back to work and begin building on all the new ideas you learned during the previous three days.

On a personal level

Just the simple act of attending will have you expanding your circle a little wider. I fail to recall how many people I added to my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts during my summit experience or just after I returned to Virginia. 

Remix

Summit or Conference

So what makes this gathering of people each year a ‘summit’?

Calling this event a ‘Summit’ really pulls from the experience one has there. The use of the term, Summit is supported by the following: 

• People gathered discussing software documentation, 
• People gathered discussing Software development, 
• People gathered discussing Trouble Ticket Tracking, and;
• How one can use the software outside of the world of IT.

Why did I explore the use of this word? Why did it matter to me? I guess it is my love affair with words that drove me to gain understanding.

To Summit or Not to Summit?

So, as you hear the soft conversation taking place in the halls or just outside your cubical as to whether or not one is attending ‘summit’ this year, don’t simply dismiss this question as idle chatter. Instead, consider what challenges this person might be faced with to force them to choose.  This should not be a question to agonize over.  If you are the one with the choice, you are one of the fortunate people. 

The answer should be clear and easy. Choose wisely.

Related Resource Links

Atlassian User Groups 

Atlassian 2016 Summit  

By Word of Mouth

My introduction to Confluence was the tool that introduced me to Atlassian. Prior to April 30, 2012, I had never heard of Confluence, let alone, Atlassian. Now, I function as an AUG Leader in my city. 

When I arrived to perform the duties as a Technical Writer for the company I am currently employed by, I was introduced to the wiki environment; Confluence. This tool was growing organically and had just become identified as the tool of choice for publishing our system documentation; the task for which I was to apply my skills as a writer each day. This is where I was introduced to Confluence.

Ah, the memories. 

April 30, 2012- told to me by my coworker

“Confluence is made by a little software company called Atlassian. They are located in Australia. The last sign of support found here in the USA was closed a couple of years ago.” “There really isn’t any strong presence here and, well, we will be rolling out SharePoint in the future, so don’t get too used to working in this limited environment.” 

Wow, it is now June 6, 2016, and yes, the company I work for is making efforts to rollout SharePoint, but the effort is moving very slowly. Confluence is here now; it is being used by more than just the technical writers. Oh, did I share the fact that my coworker is no longer contracting with the company and I was brought on permanently? Sorry for the oversight.

During my first year, I continued to hear negative comments from my coworker about how small Atlassian was and how weak the Confluence wiki editor was. Not being one to let others drive my thoughts on a subject, I did my own research.

What I discovered about Atlassian

In 14 years they have grown via word of mouth to an international software company. Actually in less than 14 years, Atlassian was in their 11th year when I was first introduced to them. By that time, they were already an International company.

If I may describe them this way, Atlassian is Australia’s Microsoft. I mean this only in terms of popularity of product and strength of influence within their community. 

At the heart of Atlassian are some very strong core values. Values that let the customer know who they are working with. 

At the Core

What makes Atlassian different from other software companies? That is a good question. One of which requires discovering Atlassian’s five core values.

The following image was taken from the Atlassian.com/company/values website.

These are values ever company should embrace when doing business. However, these values cannot be faked. If these core values do not come from the heart of the company, living in each person who works there, the truth will be revealed over time. Well, it has been 14 years now since the core values emerged in the world of IT and the growth of Atlassian has not peeked. 

Back to my Research

Let’s bring this blog back on track by sharing what my research revealed. I discovered Atlassian is a company that strived to maintain transparency, was growing stronger every day and was focused on providing the world with software that aided teams around the world to work together.

So the idea that Atlassian was some small Australian company may have been true in 2002, 2003 and possible 2004. But to sit and describe them in 2012 that way was totally off the mark.

As I published system documentation in Confluence, I also functioned as the Front-end Administrator supporting and training the Confluence users, my fellow co-workers. During this time, each new version of Confluence brought with it editor improvements, as-well-as, other user experience improvements.

The improvements that really grabbed my attention are listed below.

• Out-of-the-box templates were transfigured into powerful Blueprints
• Macros were masterfully configured to create a Knowledge Base;
• Content by Label, Page Property, and Page Property Report macros
• Greater control of the page layout was released

All wins from my perspective.

Of course, there are more improvements than the ones I have listed above, but to say ‘the user experience is enriched', is putting it mildly.

Success via Experience

Atlassian’s growth happened through word of mouth. Take a minute and let that statement sink in.

With no sales force to speak of, and the opportunity to try before you buy; Atlassian allowed you to take the software for a spin around the cyber-block. You didn’t even have to provide any credit card numbers. 

I find this very appealing. The only other industry that offers this arrangement is the auto industry, however, they do their best to prequalify you before they hand you the keys.

I believe the old adage; ‘the proof is in the pudding’ can be applied here. Atlassian’s successes are in the tasting. I mean, testing. Let’s face it; people won’t buy anything they are not happy with.

Atlassian is not small or unsupported. They are, in fact; a large international and well supported Software Company with two offices located in the United States, one office in Manila, Japan, and Amsterdam. Of course, the home office is located in Sydney Australia.

Just in case you did not know, Atlassian reached their 50,000^th customer last August (2015). That is a whole lot of testing and proving.

In the end, I could say, 'Atlassian software is out of this world' and it would be true since Atlassian also has software on mars.

But don’t just take my word for it; consider testing the software out yourself. Visit Atlassian.

The Confluence

Confluence

By definition, the word Confluence is a good description for the purpose of a wiki. As found in Dictionary.com Confluence is defined as follows:

Confluence [kon-floo-uh ns]

1. a flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like.

4.  a coming together of people or things, Concourse.  

Synonyms: union, joining, meeting

Confluence is also a collaboration and documentation tool created by Atlassian.

I became familiar with Confluence upon my arrival to a new job back in 2012. 

With a goal of creating a single source of truth in any department or business coupled with publishing information from various sources into one wiki, one cannot help but see the genius of the word as it applies to the software. 

Not only is a wiki useful for building a single source of truth, with Confluence by Atlassian; true collaboration is fostered within the team structure. This is a great example of the ‘coming together of people’.

All mighty rivers start small.

Trace any river back far enough and one will discover the source, typically a stream or creek which in turn is fed by a spring.

A few years ago, deep within the IT department I work for, the use of the Atlassian wiki; Confluence, was given life. The spring murmured quietly within the confines of a select grouping of cubical walls. The purpose: to share tribal knowledge for other team members to access.

Where there is a water source, there is life.

Soon, others residing in neighboring cubicles overheard ‘it’s in the wiki’ comments and learned of this spring. Later the decision to turn the spring in to a well was made, thus the use of Confluence grew. In time, the need to expand the use of the wiki was realized, thus a river formed.

The river vision

We have all experienced the headache of tracking email threads, disorganized share folders or drives, and questioning if the true document version is being reviewed.  The desire to unify information hidden deep within the shared drives and create a single source of information was conceived.  Enter ‘EITDocs’.  

As more members of the IT department requested use of the well, it was inevitable that the well would no longer contain the Confluence spring. In 2012 the well walls were taken down allowing the river to flow. 

Growth

All rivers generate community, and currently in the company I work for, the Confluence of the IT River with the business stream has been realized. It is easy to see why this has happened. With the collaborative and single source qualities of Confluence becoming popular, business members have come to the riverbanks and launched their boats. Business and IT can collaborate on projects, approve designs, and provide support articles within the knowledge base.

Now both business and IT are able to experience the power of Confluence, the coming together of people or things.