The problem: tool sprawl

Most software teams use dozens of different tools to get their work done. And because these tools don't talk to each other, information gets lost, work slows down, and security suffers.

On the other hand, we couldn't force every team to use only Atlassian products. Developers have favorite tools they refuse to give up. The challenge was to let them keep those tools while making sure all the data still flowed back into Jira.

The solution: open home

We built Open DevOps to give teams the best of both worlds. It started as a pre-set bundle of Atlassian tools that worked together out of the box, saving hours of setup time. From there, teams could easily swap in other tools like GitHub or Splunk. Everything stayed connected and easy to manage from a single settings page in Jira.

My role: cleaning up the complex

I led the content strategy from the first sketch to the final launch. To make sure we were solving the right problems the right way, I interviewed over 100 customers to hear what made them frustrated.

I designed the onboarding journey that helped new user set up their workspace. I also wrote the guides that taught users how to connect their favorite tools quickly and safely. My goal was to turn a technical headache into a few simple clicks.

Impact

At its peak, more than 6,500 companies used Open DevOps.

While the project eventually evolved into new features, our work changed Atlassian forever. We proved that openness was a winning strategy. The lessons we learned about connecting third-party apps now power Atlassian’s most important AI and enterprise features.