Today, I had the pleasure of attending Atlassian´s Unite event, held in the heart of the financial district of London, England.  March 12, 2012 marked the first of three suchlike forums for the leading provider of issue tracking, collaboration, and software development products. I enjoyed meeting the faces behind the names of Atlassian team members whom we have collaborated with over the years to bring value to a large number of shared customers.

As a key member of Atlassian’s early access program, Zephyr´s close relationship was extremely visible. During Mike Cannon-Brookes’, CEO and Co-Founder of Atlassian, keynote speech, Zephyr was mentioned as a fine example of software which leverages the value of JIRA by connecting development to QA teams. Zephyr also got mentioned as an integration partner who creates seamlessly compatible products to JIRA and was afforded a quote from Samir Shah, Zephyr´s CEO, on the front page article of the Atlassian Times.

The main theme, “Going social,” was definitely the focal point of the event. As teams grow in size and/or spread globally because of outsourcing, it is increasingly important to ensure that everyone stays connected. Many of the presentations stressed the fact that companies are going to rely more and more on product offerings that provide a platform for suggestions, comments and discussions. It was interesting to learn how Atlassian uses their product suite internally. They provided examples of how different groups use JIRA, Confluence and their latest offering HipChat to encourage feedback from everyone – even those not directly involved.

Like any good company that listens to their customers, Atlassian invited folks to gather around large tables where Executive and Product team members solicited questions, suggestions and constructive criticism from event attendees. It was refreshing to see such a relaxed attitude and approach to customer and partner interaction. I was pleased to be afforded ample time to talk to Mike and thence be introduced to his UK Country Manager, John, in order that I might take a more active participation in future London events and User Group sessions. I look forward to participating in future Atlassian events.