SolDevelo took part in the Atlassian Summit and Atlas Camp 2018 in Barcelona. This was our debut on an international event of this kind, and we are thrilled to share our experiences.
About the events
Atlassian Summit
Atlassian Summit is an event created for the Atlassian products’ users who want to learn more about the ecosystem, connect with its creators, and find the answers to their questions. It offers a rich choice of courses and sessions, and provides participants with an opportunity to talk to the Atlassian experts, and receive assistance in solving issues.
It is also a place for the Atlassian Marketplace vendors to showcase and promote their products, meet the users in person, and gather their feedback, as well as find new people interested in their apps.
Atlas Camp
Atlas Camp is dedicated mainly to developers. It’s organized to provide them with useful information on the Atlassian ecosystem that would allow them to build even better solutions for their customers. The event creates a space to meet, share experiences, and discuss solutions with both other participants and the Atlassian experts. It’s also a great place to learn more about the Atlassian products while focusing on the developer’s perspective.
SolDevelo apps for Jira
Since we had no previous experience with developing products for the Atlassian Marketplace, but didn’t want to turn up to the event empty handed, we’ve challenged ourselves to build 3 apps for Jira. For 3 months prior to the Atlassian Summit we’ve been putting our all into the development process.
By the time of the event, we’ve managed to successfully create and upload on the Atlassian Marketplace 3 apps compatible with Jira:
It allows the user to track the time spent by team members on particular tasks, and generate customized reports to increase transparency and efficiency of the team.
Designed to assist the user in project management by introducing several features that provide more insights into the team’s work such as Team Reliability Rating (delivers data on the team’s performance), Hot Tickets (issues that have most of your team’s attention) and Problematic Tickets (the ones that cause the most trouble).
A visualization tool, helping you monitor your team members’ performance, and easily check how you’re progressing toward achieving results and delivering value.
Atlassian Summit 2018
Day 1: Preparations and opening speeches
Day one began with preparations. Early in the morning we registered in Fira Barcelona. We’ve received Atlassian’s starter pack which included a backpack, a leash with ID card and QR code, pins, t-shirts, a board game, a voucher for refreshment water in an Atlassian plastic bottle, and a Bash band.
When successfully registered, we moved on to setting up our stand: we spread brochures, took out gadgets, checked if the TV on the stand works properly, and loaded demo videos showcasing our products.
Once the stand was ready, we enjoyed a couple hours of break and used it all up on exploring Barcelona. Eventually, we came back to the site, just in time for the opening event.
It kicked off with a welcoming performance – a mix of Spanish Flamenco and contemporary hip-hop dance. The show was very modern, surprising and spectacular, and served as an exciting way of opening the event.
It was also a great pleasure to see and listen to the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian: Scott Farquhar. His speech officially opened the Atlassian Summit 2018. Its main theme was the Atlassian’s mission to empower teams around the world. He also talked about the Atlassian Foundation and the impact of their Pledge 1% program. Additionally, there was a guest speaker involved – Shane Snow – who talked about the importance of empathy and diversity in teams.
Once the opening speeches were over, we had some free time to spend on getting to know each other: teams, companies, attendees, clients, vendors – it was a great chance for networking, and we were able to make acquaintances and exchange experiences.
Day 2: Learning and connecting
The second installment of the Summit began, and we were ready for its challenges. An entire day of talking with our stand visitors, making new friends, and gathering feedback as well as improvement ideas regarding our products. We found all of the suggestions very helpful. It was a great learning experience for us, and we will continue to develop our products with the user’s best interest as our priority.
In the meantime many sessions, keynotes, workshops and other activities took place, all of them designed to extend knowledge and improve qualifications of the participants.
We also explored many fun activities such as billiards, foosball, and relaxing on lazy bags.
But the most important was this year’s Summit keyword: TEAM. And we couldn’t agree more! Team is the key to success. This is the very foundation of every company, every project. If we don’t invest in building integrated and cooperative teams, we’ll have slim chances of success. The event’s organizers presented the meaning of this keyword in many ways and mentioned it on every step, consistently emphasizing the great role of teams. It was inspiring and empowering to see how much value is put on people and their role in shaping the product’s success.
Day 3: Ship IT and Bash
The third day of the Atlassian Summit was similar to the previous one – it went by talking with stand visitors, and attending various insightful sessions.
Once all of the main Atlassian Summit events were over, we were invited to Ship IT. Quarterly, Atlassian gives employees 24 hours to work on anything that relates to their products, and deliver it during Ship IT.
We met 4 Atlassian teams that presented their innovative features for Atlassian, and which competed with one another. The winning team was chosen by receiving the largest number of votes from the viewers.
Once Ship IT was over, there were only two things left to do – clean up our stand, and… prepare for the Bash!
Bash is the Atlassian Summit’s official ending event. This time it took place in 3 clubs by the sea. Every club had its own atmosphere, food, and music. We were entertained by various performances: local guitar men, sensual saxophonists, glowing violinists, and energizing drum guys. It was great fun!
During the Atlassian Summit 2018 we worked hard, gained plenty of experience, met a lot of amazing people, and created great memories. We were happy to participate in such a valuable event, and take the newly found inspiration home to make use of it.
Atlas Camp 2018
After a busy but wonderful three days at the Atlassian Summit, the time has come to attend the Atlas Camp – the largest conference for Atlassian app developers. It was a great opportunity to enhance skills, learn about the latest trends and network with other developers. The SolDevelo team could not miss this chance and therefore our lead developers attended the Atlas Camp as well. The event took place at the beautiful Hotel Porta Fira.
The Atlas Camp started with a keynote of Atlassian’s platform CTO – Sri Viswanath. He began with a high-level overview of the agenda for this year’s Atlas Camp, announcing 42 sessions spread across two days, covering three main tracks:
- Atlassian Platform for Developers,
- Advanced Atlassian Development,
- Code and Beyond.
If that wasn’t enough, Atlas Camp also organized Fire Pit discussions, which were small conferences where all attendees could talk and exchange knowledge about specific topics, including building, deploying and running apps, privacy, security, and more. Finally, it was also possible to schedule one-on-one meetings with Atlassian experts to have an opportunity to talk face to face about development issues or running a business in the Atlassian Ecosystem.
During Atlas Camp, we had a chance to hear some exciting news from the Atlassian world. We got to know about the upcoming changes in the Marketplace, new Atlassian Partner structure, Top Vendor programme, and Atlassian developer experience improvements. Atlassian has also revealed that they are in the process of acquiring OpsGenie, which is a platform for incident management.
In addition to that, a new Atlassian product was announced – Jira Ops. We were also happy to hear that Jira and Confluence cloud had increased the maximal number of supported users to 5000.
After a great lunch at Porta Fira, it was time for us to join the afternoon sessions. Several technical difficulties had delayed the start of some of them, but it was worth the wait. This year, sessions were led not only by the Atlassian team, but also by community guests and vendors, who were invited to give talks about their experiences.
It was helpful to hear from them about some of their struggles, problems and the way they approached resolving them. Since a lot of those talks were happening simultaneously, our team split up to attend as many of the interesting ones as possible.
At the end of the first day of the Atlas Camp, we also appeared at the Happy Hour to have a drink and chat with the Atlassians and fellow developers.
We can definitely say that we have used the time at the Atlas Camp to maximum. We attended many sessions led by Atlassian experts and other vendors, learned about the new features of the Atlassian Platform for developers, and listened to success stories told by vendors. We attended workshops on building fast and performant apps, and also expanded our knowledge on user experience. Finally, we also participated in Fire Pit discussions. It was great to be a part of this and we look forward to using all that knowledge in practice.
Memories from Barcelona
Although we came to Barcelona for the Atlassian events, it was also a great opportunity to explore the city, and discover how many beautiful sights it has to offer.
One of our main goals was to try some local food. We found a small, well-hidden place serving a variety of tapas (appetizers), and ordered: Patatas Fritas (chips with cheese sauce), Queso (grilled baguette topped with olive and rubbed with tomatoes), burgers, and some chicken. What we noticed is that local beer isn’t much different in flavor than the taste we are used to, just mostly light.
We also had the opportunity to drink real Sangria wine with fruit, diluted with water. Great, fresh, light drink for such a hot night! Additionally, we tried local olives, and although usually we’re not much of olives fans, those were surprisingly delicious.
During those few days we used our free time to the fullest, walking around the city, taking hundreds of photos, and buying souvenirs. One of the things we were amazed by was how warm and clear the Mediterranean Sea is. However, compared to the smooth sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea, the local stony seashore was uncomfortable to walk through.
All in all, we had a great time in Barcelona. Both the Atlassian events and the city itself made a lasting impression on our team, and we’re excited to incorporate the new things we’ve learned into our work to provide better solutions to our customers.
Why did we take part in the Atlassian Summit and Atlas Camp 2018 in Barcelona?
It was our first time attending any of the Atlassian events. Therefore, we were determined to try out our skills and teamwork in practice, and deliver new products that could be presented in person during the Atlassian Summit. We’ve learned a lot from this experience, and it was worth the effort that we had to put into it.
The event also met our expectations in terms of keynotes with exclusive announcements and various product-specific presentations from high-ranking Atlassian employees, partners and customers. A large number of developers were to be there to present their Atlassian apps and solutions, and so we aimed to show up as well.
The most valuable point, however, was the individual discussions, exchange of ideas, and great networking opportunities – with other participants, with app developers representatives and, of course, with the Atlassian crew. That makes it worthwhile to attend the Atlassian Summit and Atlas Camp – it’s where you come across the most productive and useful insights.