5 Reasons Atlassian Is Cooler Than Your Company (Or Mine)

A long time ago, on a page far, far away – I created a post called 7 Ways To Piss Me Off and Not Buy Your Software, and it caught the attention of the CMO of Atlassian, Jon Silvers.

Codesqueeze is nearing it’s 1st birthday in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to take a timeout to give a sincere “Thank You” to a company that has supported this blog since the near beginning – Atlassian.

A lot of people have never heard of Atlassian, let alone know how many really cool things they do for the software community, so I am going to take time out and outline a few.

1. They heavily support nonprofit and open source with tools. – If you are part of a non-profit organization, charity, or OS project, you can apply for free licenses of their tools. The ultra-cool way to get people using your stuff and spreading the word.

2. They support your UG meetings. – Want some free swag? Want some free pizza or booze? Atlassian will also support your user group meetings. Another ultra-cool way to get your brand out there and make fans.

3. They support blogs – Codesqueeze has been proudly sponsored by Atlassian for almost 6 months now! They have provided me with laptop bags, t-shirts, and free software which all ends up in the readers hands…(and there is more to come…)

4. They build cool tools – I have been a long time fan of the bug tracking tool – Jira; however, I have had the pleasure of working with many of their apps in harmony (Clover, FishEye, Jira, Crucible). A buddy of mine recently installed the new Bamboo 2.0 and said it was absolutely fantastic and seamless (I haven’t played with it yet).

5. They are down-to-earth. – When I first posted my 7 Ways To Piss Me Off post, Jon was very quick to respond with a sigh of relief knowing that it wasn’t his company that had caused the frustration, but yet he took the time to follow up with many emails asking about my concerns, and later we even had many phone calls about a number of topics. I don’t think you have to be old-fashioned to appreciate that level of support.

So, I know that this post may be a little corny, but regardless of what space your company is writing software for – there are lessons to be learned here on how to support, grow, and treat your clients, prospects, and overall community.

Thanks Atlassian, keep the good work.