A vibrant evening at ACE Gdańsk 2025
On September 11th, 2025, the city of Gdańsk hosted the fifth edition of the Atlassian Community Event (ACE), titled “Atlassian in Action: Real Stories. Real Solutions.” The event was attended by specialists from various industries – Jira administrators, product owners, service managers, and enthusiasts of Atlassian tools.
The atmosphere was buzzing with energy from the very beginning – participants exchanged stories about process improvement, dealing with operational challenges and implementing modern solutions. ACE Gdańsk #5 was not just an ordinary meeting, but above all a gathering of a community that shares practical experience and real stories from everyday work.
Lightning talks and real-world insights
The main part of the event consisted of lightning talks – short, concise presentations packed with actionable insights. Experts from companies such as Hapag-Lloyd, Dynatrace, and SmartRecruiters shared how they addressed everyday operational challenges using Atlassian tools. Each talk offered a unique perspective on real-world processes.
Topics & Speakers:
- “Change Management for Jira – How we manage changes on our environments and version them” – Sebastian Wrzesiński, Hapag-Lloyd
- “How do we organize Incident Management for a big corporation with multiple resolving groups?” – Janusz Bulakowski, Hapag-Lloyd
- “One Product, Many Teams – using Jira Rich Filters & Structure to drive delivery and keep teams aligned” – Barbara Siczek, Dynatrace
- “How We Avoided Chaos in Jira Configuration” – Staszek Matczak, SmartRecruiters
Each presentation became a catalyst for meaningful conversations. Participants compared approaches, shared their lessons learned, and reflected on what worked – and what didn’t – in their own environments.
The recurring theme? Visibility, ownership, and structured processes are the keys to transforming tools into true enablers of organizational change.
SolDevelo’s story: Tackling cloud sprawl and costs
Among the presentations, the story our team shared attracted considerable interest. We explained how we managed to reduce AWS costs by 77% using Jira Service Management (JSM) and the Assets module.
Problem: Uncontrolled resource growth and rising costs
Over time, the AWS environment grew to unmanageable proportions. Resources were created for various projects and experiments, but often no one remembered to delete them. There was also a lack of transparency regarding IAM permissions and, crucially, it was unclear who owned which resources.
The lack of accountability led to a waste of resources and money. It was necessary to implement a system combining transparency, structure and accountability to enable effective optimization.
Step 1: Centralized resource tracking
The first step was to catalogue all AWS resources in the Assets module in Jira Service Management. This created a single, centralised source of knowledge about every server, database, and storage container – resources became visible, described, and easily accessible.
Step 2: Ownership and accountability
Each resource was assigned to a specific owner and given a description of its business purpose. From then on, it was no longer an anonymous element of the infrastructure – it had a specific person responsible for it and a clearly defined place in the processes. What is more, each new resource created by the team was automatically added to the catalogue along with its assigned owner.
Step 3: Regular reviews and optimizations
Regular reviews and automatic reminders for resource owners were introduced. If a resource was inactive or unjustified, the owner had to decide whether to delete it or keep it.
At the same time, technical optimisations were carried out:
- EC2 – unused instances were disabled and schedules were introduced for automatically stopping development and testing environments outside working hours.
- AWS Transfer Family – replaced with a cheaper EC2-based solution.
- S3 – data was organised, archiving of rarely used files was introduced, and lifecycle policies were implemented to move objects to cheaper storage classes.
- Load Balancers – their number was reduced by limiting the number of EC2 instances.
Results: 77% lower costs and complete transparency
The results of these actions were spectacular:
- 77% reduction in AWS costs through cleaning, optimisation and assignment of responsibility,
- 100% visibility and control over all resources,
- streamlined processes and clear rules for managing the cloud environment.
Most importantly, a sustainable system was built that eliminates chaos, prevents waste and supports long-term efficiency.
Key takeaways from the presentation
- Chaos in the cloud generates costs – the lack of owners and processes leads to uncontrolled expenditure growth.
- A manual approach does not work on a large scale – a system is needed, not spreadsheets and ad hoc actions.
- It is worth using existing tools – JSM with the Assets module has proven to be excellent for cataloguing and assigning responsibility.
- Responsibility ensures lasting savings – structure and transparency allow you to maintain cost efficiency on a permanent basis.
Closing thoughts: The power of community
ACE Gdańsk #5 showed that technology is only part of the puzzle – people, their experiences and willingness to share knowledge are key. The event was an excellent opportunity to learn about real stories and proven solutions, and to be inspired to implement changes in one’s own organisations.
Take action – Optimise your cloud today
If SolDevelo’s story has inspired your organisation to tidy up your AWS environment, it’s worth taking the next step:
- Explore cloud development solutions – design, build and maintain scalable cloud systems.
- Discover AWS Cost Optimisation Services – full visibility, control and cost efficiency of cloud environments.
Turn chaos into clarity and costs into savings.
