Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons from Atlassian: Launching new products, getting buy-in, and staying ahead of the competition | Megan Cook (head of product, Jira)

Feb 4, 2024

01:21:08

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Megan Cook, Head of product for Atlassian’s Jira software, shares insights on getting buy-in, starting small, creating space for play, staying ahead of competition, launching new product lines, making remote work successful, and lessons from personal failures.

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Quick takeaways

Atlassian observed a need for non-developer teams to adapt Jira Software to their specific needs, leading to the development of Jira Work Management.

Atlassian started small with Jira Work Management, focusing on incremental improvements and creating a visual and visceral experience.

Atlassian's gated process for developing new products, including stages like Explore, Make, Impact, and Scale, ensures thorough exploration, validation, and advancement of ideas.

Deep dives

Recognizing the need for Jira Work Management

Atlassian observed that teams outside of software, such as finance and marketing, were using Jira Software but struggling to adapt it to their specific needs. This signaled an opportunity to address these use cases and led to the development of Jira Work Management, a product focused on non-developer teams.

Open Communication and Self-Improvement

01:08

Changes in Tech Industry and Feedback Culture

01:14

Effective Meeting Setup and Presentation Preparation

02:11

Focus on Productivity and Flexibility in Remote Work

01:31

Introduction

4min

Creating Play and Psychological Safety in Teams

5min

Pairing Up for Feedback

8min

The Importance of Making Time for Human Connection in the Workplace

19min

The Importance of Fighting the Good Fight and Addressing Customer Satisfaction

3min

Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Identifying Key Factors

8min

Product Line Expansion and Meeting Different Team Needs

21min

Thinking Big and Open Communication

7min

Product Discovery: Traeger Smoker

7min

Megan Cook is the head of product for Atlassian’s Jira software, which is used by 75% of Fortune 500 companies, has over 125,000 customers globally, over 15 different products, and is by far the most popular project management tool in the world. Megan has been at Atlassian for just under 11 years, and before this role, she was an analyst, a developer, and an Agile coach. In our conversation, we discuss:

• How to get buy-in for your ideas

• The value of starting small

• How, and why, creating space for play is so essential

• How Jira stays ahead of endless competition

• Atlassian’s approach to launching new product lines

• Tactical tips for making remote work, work

• A personal failure and the lessons learned from it

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Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.

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Where to find Megan Cook:

• X: https://twitter.com/meganwcook

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cookmegan

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Megan’s background