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Values in action

A look into Atlassian's values and how they influence our work, products, and culture. 

Collaboration bike

Most companies have a set of values and a mission statement they use to help inform how and where they operate, the products and services they provide, and, most notably, how they view and treat both their customers and employees.

So when you ask an Atlassian what themes are at the core of their experience — what a consistent part of their Atlassian narrative is — almost without question, they’ll start by talking about the importance of our values and their impact on our work and products. 

Atlassian’s five values are:

  • Open Company, No bullshit 
  • Build with heart and balance 
  • Don’t #@!% the customer 
  • Play, as a team 
  • Be the change you seek

Each value plays a distinct role in guiding our culture, and ultimately in helping our teams work together effectively by keeping our people aligned, engaged, and focused on our products and customers. And while having your company values and mission well defined are not new concepts, the questions all companies have to answer are:

  • Is our organization actively talking about these things?
  •  Is there engagement through these shared beliefs, or are they sitting in an HR presentation somewhere never to be used in practice?

Atlassian’s mission and values start with our founders and People Team leaders who influence everything from our approach to sourcing and hiring to the creation of initiatives like Pledge 1% and Atlassian Ventures. But most importantly, our people are advocates for our values and find purpose in helping to unleash the potential of every team.

How our values guide our culture & business

Size and scale are vital components when thinking about how to communicate with your team. And as a company grows, it becomes increasingly important to bake in a clear and accessible communications plan into the DNA of your company’s approach to that growth.

At their most fundamental level, our values aim to build and facilitate an open platform where our culture can grow and adapt while also highlighting the things we value as an organization. These values define how our people collaborate, consider trade-offs, and take intelligent risks together. Because of this, our values are frequently cited as the top reason for wanting to join Atlassian.


“Our values interview is part of how you find out [what Atlassian is like internally]. We understand that at most companies, values aren’t much more than a collection of banal phrases posted on the wall. Here, though, we tell it like it is, with values like 'Open company, no bullshit' and 'Don’t #@!% the customer.'”


Engagement through shared beliefs

When a team shares a set of beliefs, it creates an environment where meaningful conversations are ongoing, cross-functional, and transcend seniority levels. Those conversations allow us to measure our work by both its technical achievements and reflecting our values’ impact on the work itself. 

Feedback should never be personal, and when that feedback comes from a genuine place of concern and is guided by a shared set of beliefs, it allows teams and people to speak openly about what’s on their minds — leading to questions like. Are we ‘f’ing the customer?’ Do these changes align with what other teams need? Are we seeking the change we want to see in the world?

One fundamental way we aim to understand a candidate’s motivation and perspective on Atlassian values is by including a panelist on every interview panel. That individual is responsible for assessing values-alignment using a framework and a scoring rubric that maps back to our values interviews, helping to identify and remove any negative biases.

For example, a candidate interviewing may be asked to speak to past project(s) that didn’t go as intended, what went wrong, and how they addressed the issue(s) to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

Anecdotes like these are helpful because they underscore how candidates articulate what good and bad communication look like to them — how they view cross-functional projects and teamwork — and ideally, their takeaways that inform future-projects, misalignment, and creating collaborative environments.

Because it's critical to get this approach right, our values interviewers go through detailed training prior to taking on a panelist role in an in-person interview. And after joining Atlassian, you'll notice our values are woven into how we assess everything from how we approach feedback or reward people to our commitment to renewable energy. Those same values help define our programs and rituals we run at Atlassian, no matter the size.

Consider ShipIt, our quarterly hackathon, or our commitment to VTO: both showcase Atlassian’s dedication to investing in team collaboration and empowering people through software — all while working to improve the communities around us.

Creating consistency through values

Any work dynamic naturally changes once a company starts growing, and Atlassian is no exception. But instead of attempting to define what our culture should be, we’ve outlined five values that serve as our North Star — guiding our decisions that continuously shape the way we engage with each other. By using our values as a guidepost, Atlassian’s culture is dynamic enough to fit within the numerous markets where we operate. In Amsterdam, this could mean providing on-site bicycle repair while also hosting an annual King’s Day celebration, whereas, in Bengaluru, it could mean celebrating Innovation Week.

Because each location is uniquely its own, each with its own celebrations, perks, and traditions — the culture is ideally genuine and meaningful to our people. When considering this approach, we came to understand that it's okay to have variety across locations as long as those variations' values are consistent. As an organization that obsesses over teams, our values also help us ensure we're hiring team players and who we'd expect to be engaged collaborators.

If our values and mission resonate with you, spend a few moments learning about our teams, open roles, and Atlassian’s future.

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