Steal Atlassian’s playbook for building stronger teams without an office

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Oct 15, 2025

Avani Prabhakar, Chief People Officer at Atlassian, shares insights on building connections in a remote-first world. She discusses the Team Anywhere model, revealing how it redefines workplace dynamics. Avani explains the importance of intentional togetherness and practical strategies to combat Zoom fatigue. Delving into AI's role in HR, she describes how non-technical teams can create useful AI agents. Avani predicts a future of asynchronous work, focusing on how we work rather than where, highlighting the shift towards a collaborative, written-first culture.

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INSIGHT

Team Anywhere Replaces 'Remote' With Choice

Atlassian's Team Anywhere removes 'where' from the work equation and emphasises choice for employees.
The model treats distribution as intentional rather than simply 'remote' or 'office' based.

ANECDOTE

From 8% Experiment To One-Way Decision

Atlassian experimented with remote work pre-pandemic and scaled Team Anywhere after seeing it work at 8% company adoption.
They treated the company-wide shift as a one-way-door decision and iterated policies afterwards.

INSIGHT

Connection Is Built By Purposeful Gatherings

Sporadic office attendance does not build lasting connection; intentional gatherings do.
Atlassian's ITG (Intentional Togetherness) brings teams together quarterly to solve a shared problem and build bonds.

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Most companies think connection is built in the office. Atlassian discovered the opposite.

In this episode, I’m joined by Avani Prabhakar, Chief People Officer at Atlassian. Avani takes us inside Atlassian’s Team Anywhere model, which has redefined how 13,000 people across the globe work together.

We unpack what really drives connection, how to structure your workday to avoid Zoom fatigue, and why Atlassian ditched PowerPoint altogether. If you’ve ever wondered what the future of work actually looks like in practice, this is a rare behind-the-scenes look.

Avani and I discuss:

The difference between “remote first” and “distributed first” work

Why connection doesn’t come from sporadic office attendance

Atlassian’s framework for intentional togetherness (ITG)

How to design your workday to balance meetings, deep work, and collaboration

Why Atlassian banned PowerPoint and moved to a written-first culture

How asynchronous communication transformed decision-making

The role of AI agents in HR and how non-technical teams built their own tools

The four stages of becoming a strategic AI user
Avani’s predictions for the future of work: asynchronous by default, AI collaboration, and focusing on how we work rather than where

Key Quotes

“Connection wasn’t built by sporadic office attendance. Real connection happens when you intentionally bring people together with a purpose.”

“The future of work won’t be about where we work. It will be about how we work.”

Connect with Avani on LinkedIn.

My latest book The Health Habit is out now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amantha.com/the-health-habit/

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Credits:
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler

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