usability

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

—

Brought to you by:

• Teal—Your personal career growth platform

• Sprig—Build a product people love

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.

—

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.

—

Where to find Megan Cook:

• X: https://twitter.com/meganwcook

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

—

Where to find Lenny:

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

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

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

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Megan’s background

(03:50) Creating space for play and psychological safety on teams

(07:36) Peer feedback groups

(10:30) Sharing stories of failure

(13:33) The “10 dollar” game for priorities

(15:24) Advice on making remote work, work

(24:16) Getting buy-in for your ideas

(28:33) The importance of staying open-minded

(34:05) A quick summary of how to get buy-in

(36:45) Fighting the good fight

(38:15) Identifying customer pain points

(43:04) Starting small and showing success

(46:08) Launching new product lines

(53:35) Atlassian’s gated process for new product ideas

(58:00) How Jira stays ahead of competitors

(01:04:28) Learning from failure

(01:08:30) Fight club

(01:10:08) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/product

• Ben Crowe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-crowe-67299714/

• Ash Barty on X: https://twitter.com/ashbarty

• Atlassian’s blog, Work Life: https://www.atlassian.com/blog

• Lessons learned: 1,000 days of distributed at Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/distributed-work/distributed-work-report

• New research: How to make time for the work that matters: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/distributed-work/calendar-redesign-experiment

• Atlas: https://www.atlassian.com/software/atlas

• Confluence: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence

• Lenny’s swag store: https://lennyswag.com/

• What is CSAT and how do you measure it?: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/customer/what-is-csat

• The UX research reckoning is here | Judd Antin (Airbnb, Meta): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ux-research-reckoning-is-here-judd-antin-airbnb-meta/

• Charlie Sutton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesutton/

• Nokia 6100: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6100

• Compass: https://www.atlassian.com/software/compass

• Jira Product Discovery: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/product-discovery

• Canva: https://www.canva.com/

• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Customers/dp/1119387507

• Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212

• Foundation on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/foundation/umc.cmc.5983fipzqbicvrve6jdfep4x3

• Foundation book series: https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-3-Book-Boxed-Set-Empire/dp/0593499573

• Traeger smoker: https://www.traeger.com/shop/wood-pellet-grills

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Sam (@thesamparr) and Shaan (@shaanvp) today go over some of YC's best startups to come out of its recent demo day. Want to make your first million with your mobile app? You have to prioritize your user experience first. And HeadSpin is here to help. With HeadSpin’s mobile app benchmark reports, know where you stand against your peers and get deep insights into your mobile experience and app performance. Get your custom HeadSpin benchmark report at headspin.io/benchmark. Topics for today: Sam's good luck and bad luck (3:26), Teachable selling (7:30), Can Airbnb withstand a recession? (12:48), Cron - Superhuman for your calendar (21:40), Superhumans for x - Pitch and Casuel (29:51), Art in res - fine art installment plans (32:00), Line of credit to influencers (38:53), Freezing eggs (44:34), $100K and pick one to invest in (50:17), Campus delivery startups - Duffle and Puff (53:31) and Unsexy great new businesses like BuildPlane.com and Truenorth Fleet (55:19)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.