If you’ve not heard of ShipIt, it’s about time that you do! We’re about to hit our 60th ShipIt at Atlassian and it’s never been as big as today.

What is ShipIt?

ShipIt is a vital event at Atlassian, that targets Developer Joy! It’s a cornerstone of our culture and it’s been a ritual we’ve had for almost 20 years. Its core mission is to foster innovation and creativity, which contributes to growing our world-class organisation. ShipIt is an internal global hackathon, a 24-hour innovation sprint where employees can work on projects they’re passionate about outside of their regular duties. This event allows Atlassians to explore innovative ideas, tackle unresolved problems, and collaborate with colleagues from different departments. Engineers are given the space to experiment and fail safely. Using new knowledge and skills from ShipIt, engineers are emboldened to continue innovating in their roles to create the best software for our customers. ShipIt embodies Atlassian’s value of “Be the change you seek,” as it encourages employees to initiate change and drive innovation from within. The success and enthusiasm surrounding ShipIt highlight its importance in nurturing a culture of innovation and collaboration at Atlassian, making it a key component of the company’s identity and employee engagement strategy.

How ShipIt works

There is a lot of work that goes into planning a ShipIt. We receive extensive help from Workplace Experience and Workplace Technology teams across all the regions. On top, our dedicated ShipIt Program Manager works closely with a team of champions who volunteer their time, away from their regular roles, to help organise and deliver a one-of-a-kind event that is ShipIt! We run it in APAC, EMEA, Americas and India regions, and throughout all, we maintain the same standards, effort, attention and care so that everyone across Atlassian experiences it with the same quality and buzz!

Internally, amongst the leads, we do a lot of planning ahead of time for the design, the theme and the name for each of the ShipIts. It’s when we also decide on the theme song that is aligned with the overall theme and will be used in all of the upcoming events including the finals. In the ShipIt lead-up time, we run and facilitate a few different sessions:

  • Info session – We share all the relevant information about the upcoming events, the ShipIt days themselves, the awards teams can win, how to create a ShipIt project, voting rules, all the important links to bookmark, the finals, and the after party.
  • PitchIt sessions — In two rounds, we encourage Atlassians to share their projects with everyone in the audience. It’s an opportunity to recruit more talent for your ShipIt team and explain the impact it will have internally and externally on our customers.
  • Kick-Off session – where we officiate the start of every ShipIt and explain deadlines to deliver the work in time for the voting round and when the finals are set to begin.

Participants have until the next day to submit a demo video that explains the problem they were trying to solve, how they solved it, and the impact it will have when shipped. It all has to be captured in 2 minutes or less, and we use our very own Loom to create and upload videos.

After that, we unlock the voting rooms and the anticipation begins. During the async voting round, for which we also use Jira, Atlassians get matched with 10 random projects from their region and they evaluate each of them based on a few different factors. All of those votes get tallied as we prepare to announce winners in the finals session!

Finals are accompanied by a few different announcements, games, and the after-party with food and drinks. We embrace the TEAM Anywhere spirit by making sure all of our sessions are accessible for Atlassians joining both remote and in-person. For those near by an office it’s an opportunity for everyone near by to come in and connect. For those remote, Atlassian encourages organising sponsored regional connection gatherings.

All that meticulous planning and execution ensures that ShipIt maintains high standards and excitement across all regions. By maintaining a well-organized structure, ShipIt not only supports innovation but also strengthens the sense of community and collaboration among Atlassians, aligning with the company’s values and goals.

ShipIt awards and prizes

And yes, you read well – there are awards. ShipIt is not just about innovation, but also about creating a fun and engaging environment that boosts participation and motivation. Like any hackathon, you can win an award. And we have plenty on offer, which boosts interest, motivation and inspiration! Categories vary and expand as we become bigger:

  • People’s choice award – is exactly as it sounds. Remember the voting round? It’s the winner that the audience chooses.
  • OKR award – This award is for a technical project that contributes to one of our company’s OKRs, chosen by a senior leader.
  • Unplugged award – it awards a non-technical project that creates the most impact, also chosen by a senior leader.
  • 11 Challenge area awards – We keep growing in these challenge areas, and I wonder if it will ever stop! Each challenge area has a sponsor from our internal organisations that are looking for specific solutions for their teams and products.
  • Founder’s Choice award – our founder chooses the project they loved the most.

People’s Choice, OKR and Unplugged awards are announced during the finals session. Challenge areas and Founder’s Choice awards are announced a few weeks after ShipIt concludes.

The awards motivate participants to strive for excellence in their projects, while the fun activities and themes keep the energy levels high, ensuring a memorable experience for everyone involved. By combining innovation with fun, ShipIt effectively engages employees, fosters creativity, and strengthens team spirit, reinforcing Atlassian’s commitment to a vibrant and innovative workplace culture.

More reasons to participate in ShipIt

We do love good banter during these sessions, so it’s never a dull moment when we’re talking ShipIt! A huge part of ShipIt is having fun while we do it! And obviously getting as many ShipIt projects to completion as possible!

To create even more fun we:

  • Dress up to match the theme.
  • Create special ShipIt swags for all participants.
  • Prepare large banners and decorate our offices.
  • Run trolleys filled with chocolates across our office floors in the early afternoons to boost more focus for everyone working from the office on their projects.
  • Prepare intro videos before Finals kick off.
  • As well as get confetti and trophies ready for the People’s Choice winners!

There are only 2 ShipIts per year so we go all in and give it all to make sure everyone participating is feeling the excitement, fun and love!

The impact of ShipIt extends beyond the event itself, contributing significantly to Atlassian’s growth and success. Some fun facts to get you even more sold on the idea!

  • Jira Service Management (JSM) was originally a ShipIt project, and Scott Farquhar, one of our co-founders, was part of the team that worked on it.
  • Our founders referenced ShipIt on many occasions, but my absolute favourite one was when Mike Cannon-Brookes said, “ShipIt, don’t skip it!”.
  • And participation has been growing each year. Our most recent one had over 2000 participants. I bet you wouldn’t be able to guess how many features that you use today started as a ShipIt but ended up getting Shipped into Production for our customers to use.

This capability to transform innovative ideas into tangible products underscores the strategic importance of ShipIt in Atlassian’s innovation ecosystem.

Start your own version of ShipIt

Our tools are at the heart of organising and running ShipIt. To help scale the program, we use features like Jira Automation, Jira Workflows, Custom Fields in Jira, Bulk Editing feature in Jira, AI functionality and more.

We’d love to hear if this motivates you to build your own version of ShipIt within your organisation! Hopefully, this has inspired you to invest in your team and give them the opportunity to innovate! Atlassian products could help kick-start that journey.

ShipIt is not just a hackathon for us. It’s a movement and a global gathering where we share ideas and laughter, celebrate each other’s successes, and grow our connections stronger. We’ve seen it spark joy in every field and craft at Atlassian. It’s done it for us, so we’re sure it can do it for you, too!

Be the change you seek!

From Ideas to Impact: The Story of ShipIt