The Jira Life

AI is changing the way we work, but it's also changing the way we think, communicate, learn, and create.

In this episode, we move beyond the usual conversations about productivity and automation to explore a bigger question: What does it mean to stay human in the age of AI?

We discuss how AI is reshaping the workplace, creativity, decision making, and human connection. As AI becomes more capable, how do we ensure that curiosity, empathy, critical thinking, and authentic collaboration remain at the center of what we do?

We also explore some fascinating...

What if your Trello boards could do the work for you?

Join us for our special Trellopendence event where we explore how automation can transform the way teams manage projects, tasks, and workflows. We'll discuss how to think about automation before building it, share some of the most valuable Trello automations every user should consider, and demonstrate how Trello works alongside powerful tools like Claude, Zite, PixieBrix, and more.

We'll also take a look at some of the latest Trello updates and discuss practical ways to streamline your work without adding complexity.

Thank...

The Atlassian ecosystem is changing faster than ever, and navigating where the platform is headed can be tough for users and enterprises alike. In this episode, we sit down with ecosystem veteran Larry Brock to unpack the massive shifts happening right now inside the Atlassian community and product lineup.We dive deep into the merger of Atlassian Community and University, the rise of the Content Creator Champion, and what the role of a "Regional Director" actually means. Plus, Larry gives us the inside scoop on the legendary #findLarry story and breaks down what the Community Advisory Board (CAB) is...

This week the TJL crew sits down with Kayode Faith, a longtime Jira admin who's just launched his own podcast, The New Shape of Work and had one of the TJL crew members as his first guest (guess who!?). Kayode opens up about how a recent summit completely changed his perspective on Forge, and the crew swaps stories about the unexpected professional relationships and friendships that come out of these events.

From there, the conversation turns reflective: Kayode looks back at how the Atlassian ecosystem has evolved over his six years as a Jira admin, and shares...

Being a Jira admin has never been more complex or more critical. In this episode, we sit down with Peter Kerrigan, Head of Customer Success at Solcoro, for a no-holds-barred conversation about the real struggles, hard decisions, and thankless work that goes into keeping an Atlassian environment healthy, scalable, and sane.

Whether you're managing a scrappy single-instance setup or a sprawling enterprise layout with dozens of sites, this one is going to hit home.

We dig into the topics that don't get talked about enough the ones that keep admins up at night and that...

What does it actually look like to embed social impact into the DNA of a leading tech company — not as a PR footnote, but as a core operating principle? This week, we sit down with Jessica Hyman, the person at Atlassian tasked with answering exactly that question.

As a key part of the Atlassian Foundation and the company's Chief Sustainability Officer, Jessica oversees everything from Atlassian's environmental commitments to its global social impact programs. We dig into how she navigates the tension between ambitious sustainability goals and the realities of running a high-growth software company, what the At...

Birthday episode! 🎂

Three years. Hundreds of sprints. Countless standups. And somehow, we're still here.

To mark the third birthday of The Jira Life, co-hosts Rodney Nissen, Alex Ortiz, and Sarah Wright are joined by the people who make this whole thing possible behind the scenes — producers Robert "King Bob" Wen and Lina Ortiz — for a full-crew celebration episode unlike any other.

Expect the unexpected: the gang digs into the stories they've never told on air, from the chaotic recording sessions that almost didn't make it to publish, to the Atlassian tools that run the pod...

As spring turns into summer, many people's thoughts turn to hitting the open road and soaking in the majestic grandeur of the United States. This week on The Jira Life, we're celebrating that spirit of adventure with a grand reunion of the Trello Trailblazers — featuring the Trello queen herself, Brittany Joiner, along with fellow Trello enthusiasts Rob Hean and Mike Day. Brittany takes us behind the scenes of her cross-country motor home journey, sharing how she planned every mile of the trip using Trello. From route mapping to packing lists, tune in as she walks us through her actual bo...

TEAM '26 was a whirlwind — and we're still buzzing from it. But before we move on to the next thing, we wanted to take a moment to shine a light on the people who helped make this season possible. This quarter, that means ikuTeam, and we couldn't be more grateful for the partnership.

So what better way to say thank you than to hand them the mic?

In this episode, we sit down with Nelson Pereira, co-founder and VP of Product at ikuTeam, for a wide-ranging conversation about how ikuTeam came to be, what they've bu...

Atlassian Team '26 Conference kicks off May 5th in Anaheim, which means it's time to pull out our crystal ball and see what's coming. We've been digging through the Atlassian Roadmap, the Cloud release notes, recent partner announcements, and a few tea leaves to put together our best predictions for what you'll be reading about next week — because if the pattern holds, there's going to be a lot to unpack.

Every Atlassian admin has been there — you're either locking everything down so tightly that users are filing tickets just to breathe, or you've said "yes" one too many times and now you've got 47 duplicate fields and a different workflow in every single space. So where's the line?This episode is less of an interview and more of a conversation — and we want you to be part of it. As we sit down with Nick Turner of the Turner Advisory Group, we're pulling in perspectives straight from the JiraAmigos community, because this is exactly the kind of topic where everyone has...

In this episode, we sit down with Kristjan Mathiesen, who recently joined Atlassian's Certification team as a Technical Subject Matter Expert, to take a comprehensive look at one of the most valuable — and often underutilized — resources in the Atlassian ecosystem: the certification program.

Kristjan walks us through the full history of Atlassian credentialing, from the early days of the Atlassian Certified Professional (ACP) exams — high-stakes, proctored assessments designed to validate deep product knowledge — through the evolution of the program into a broader ecosystem of credentials. We cover the early ACP exams, how they came to be, why they wer...

What does it take to create a hands-on Atlassian event from the ground up? This week, we sit down with some of the organizers behind Build IT Together — Lina Ortiz, Shawn Doyle, and Josh Golosinskiy — to hear the full story of how a community idea became one of the most practical Atlassian gatherings around.

We trace the origins back to the Atlassian Builders Summit, the spark that planted the seed for something different: an event where attendees don't just sit through sessions — they actually build. The team walks us through the evolution of that vision into Build IT Tog...

Forget your sprints. Abandon your backlogs. This week, the crew is bocking the system and doing a full retrospective on the only meaty morsels that matter: chicken tenders and nuggets.

We kick things off with the question that has haunted humanity since the dawn of the deep fryer — who has the best chicken tenders? Our panel of highly unqualified experts (namely our TJL crew) are joined by a special mystery guest to weigh in on the crunch factor, the tenderness-to-breading ratio, and the all-important "structural integrity during dipping" metric. It's a full audit, and not everyone makes it...

This week on The Jira Life, we’re joined by Ed Gaile of Appfire to explore the intersection of creativity, automation, and the future of teamwork.

We dive into the emerging concept of Vibe Coding—what it is, why it’s resonating with modern teams, and how it shifts the way we think about building and interacting with tools. From there, Ed walks us through the practical side of innovation: connecting the Rovo MCP server to Jira and Confluence to unlock new possibilities for integration, orchestration, and intelligent workflows.

Whether you're experimenting with new development paradig...

This week on The Jira Life, something unexpected has happened… the show has been peacefully (and joyfully) taken over by the Trello community. 🎉

In honor of St. Trello's Day, a legendary celebration of boards, cards, and the power of visual collaboration, the Trello Trailblazers have seized the microphones and transformed the podcast into a whirlwind tour of all things Trello.

Leading the charge are Trello champions Brittany Joiner, Rob Hean, and Mike Day, who bring their trademark enthusiasm—and just a little mischief—to The Jira Life studio.

In this whimsical episode, the Trailblaz...

The Jira Life reacts to news of layoffs at Atlassian

The Atlassian ecosystem is evolving rapidly, and the ripple effects are being felt across customers, Solution Partners, and Marketplace vendors alike. In this episode of The Jira Life, we welcome Dzmitry Hyrb, who joins us to explore how Atlassian’s strategic shifts are reshaping the way organizations think about tools, solutions, and collaboration within the ecosystem.

We start by unpacking the current state of the Atlassian ecosystem and what Atlassian’s changing strategy means for the companies building on top of the platform. Dzmitry shares insights from the perspective of Marketplace vendors, including how Stiltsoft is repositioning its...

In this emergency episode, Alex and King Bob talk about the upcoming closing of the Austin and Manila Atlassian offices, the current performance of Atlassian's stock and whether storm clouds are ahead for Atlassian.

On this episode of The Jira Life, we're joined by Walter Buggenhout for a deep dive into modern work planning across the Atlassian ecosystem. 

Planning work in Jira is about more than just creating issues and moving them across a board. Walter brings his expertise to the table to explore how teams can connect vision to execution using Jira and complementary tools like Jira Product Discovery, Rovo, and the Strategy Collection. 

We'll unpack how to: 

Align product ideas and strategic goals with delivery work 

Prioritize effectively using Jira Product Discovery 

Lev...

Get ready for a deep dive into Jira Cloud migrations and next-level automation on an upcoming episode of The Jira Life!

This week, Przemyslaw Wesolka, founder of JAP Connect joins the TJL crew to talk all things Jira migrations to Cloud and the power of Jira Automation.

Moving from Data Center to Cloud isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a strategic shift. Przemyslaw shares hard-earned lessons from the field, including:

* Common pitfalls teams face during Jira Cloud migrations

* How to approach app assessments and data cleanup before the move

...

Atlas Camp 2026 has wrapped in Amsterdam, and this week on The Jira Life we’re bringing you the inside scoop.

Join us as we welcome Peter Van de Voorde and Dan Hardiker to break down everything that mattered from Atlas Camp 2026.

From AI-first app development to the continued evolution of Forge and platform extensibility, Peter and Dan share their firsthand insights on:

The biggest themes shaping the Atlassian ecosystem in 2026

How AI agents and automation are changing the way developers build on Jira and Confluence

What’s new (and what...

This week the TJL crew reports and analyzes the news coming from Atlassian's Team on Tour: Government event in Washington D.C. Join us as Alex plays field reporter giving updates from the event!The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on LinkedIn!  / the-jira-life  Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/@thejiralife/...Hosts:

This week the TJL crew sits down with Josh Costella, Lead Architect for Sentify and co-lead of the Phoenix ACE chapter. Join us as we talk about Atlassian Government Cloud and Isolated Cloud and other topics sure to be discussed at TEAM 26!

The Jira Life

=====================================

Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://lnkd.in/g5834Kix

Or Follow us on LinkedIn!https://lnkd.in/epszdbRj

Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://lnkd.in/gzDWDAzN<...

This week the TJL crew welcome Paulo Ramalho, Atlassian Community Champion from Norway and Senior Atlassian Consultant. Watch as Paulo explains how Assets, as a platform app, can now establish governance of your Jira and Confluence items.The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on LinkedIn!  / the-jira-life  Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/@thejiralife/...Hosts:

In this episode of The Jira Life, we sit down with Robert Hean of Hean Tech to explore how Confluence documentation is evolving in the age of Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence.As AI teammates like Rovo become part of everyday work, the quality of your documentation matters more than ever. We discuss what “good documentation” really means today, common mistakes teams make in Confluence, and how to structure content so Rovo can deliver accurate, helpful answers instead of amplifying documentation chaos.
Robert shares practical strategies for creating AI-ready Confluence spaces, improving knowledge discoverability, and aligning documentation practices with mode...

Jira Admins, are you ready for for the new limits and changes coming to your Atlassian Cloud sites? Joining the TJL crew is Atlassian Admin extraordinaire, Darryl Lee who will discuss with us what's imminently coming, when, and how to prepare.

The Jira Life

=====================================

Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!

https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/

Or Follow us on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-jira-life/

Become a member on YouTube to get access to...

Greet the New Year with the TJL crew! On our first episode of 2026, we aim to look forward and see what the new year will bring to our favorite Atlassian products and the Atlassian community!

The Jira Life

=====================================

Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!

https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/

Or Follow us on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-jira-life/

Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:

https://www.youtube...

As we wrap up 2025, join the TJL crew as we recall the best, worst, and overall amazing adventures we went through this past year! Recount with us the highs and lows that happened in the Atlassian community this year!

Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. 

https://www.revyz.io/

The Jira Life

=====================================

Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!

https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/

Or Follow us on L...

Joining the TJL crew this week is Long Nguyen, Senior Software Engineer for Atlassian. Long has worked on Rovo starting with Rovo Chat to his present responsibilities to improving Rovo Agents. Tune in to hear background stories of the initial development as well as the tips and tricks Alex (and you) need to improve your prompts to Rovo Agents.Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian...

Join us as we reunite with Bill Wood! Catch up with Bill as he relates his life so far in Europe and the Atlassian Community he finds there. Learn about the partners and priorities "across the pond".Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://lnkd.in/g5834KixOr Follow us on LinkedIn!https://lnkd.in/epszdbRjBecome a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://lnkd.in...

Celebrate gratitude with The Jira Life as Atlassian Community leaders, creators, and champions share what they’re thankful for in 2025. From Team 25 in Anaheim and Barcelona meetups, to certifications, career changes, community events, and the Atlassian Builder Summit, this special episode highlights the people, partners, and experiences shaping our ecosystem. Hear heartfelt messages from champions, creators, partners, and longtime contributors who make the Atlassian world thrive. Whether you're a Jira admin, power user, ACE leader, or community member, this episode captures the spirit of connection, growth, and support that defines our community.Thank you to Revyz for backing us up...

THE GAME IS CHANGING! THE LINES ARE BLURRING! In a previous episode, we looked at the ways of extending the capabilities of Jira and other Atlassian tools: Marketplace Apps, Forge, and Rovo. Now, Rovo shows the promise of easing creation of both Rovo Agents and Forge Apps. What does this mean for the Atlassian admins, the Atlassian marketplace, and the Community in general. Join us for the discussion!

Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. 

https://www.revyz.io/

The Jira Life

=====================================

H...

HOW MUCH DIRECTION TO NEW ATLASSIAN FEATURES SHOULD COME FROM THE USER POPULATION? - Joining us to discuss this topic is Jens Schumacher, former Atlassian and CEO of Released. Jens has a long history of working with "JAC" (jira.atlassian.com) and feels while it may have served its purpose long ago, there are other ways of balancing user desires with Atlassian priorities for better apps.

Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/

The Jira Life

=====================================

Having trouble keeping up...

"Rovo knows everything, works everywhere, and helps everyone". With these words uttered by Mike Cannon-Brookes during TEAM '25 Europe, he introduced the further capabilities of Atlassian's Agentic AI solution.Joining us to help elaborate on this new chapter is return guest Jensen Fleming, Principal Product Manager for AI/Rovo. Tune in to see and hear the major and minor announcements that came from Barcelona!Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian...

TRELLOWEEN RETURNS! Joining us for this holiday tradition is Brittany Joiner, Mike Day, and Rob Hean for spooky stories of haunted apps!Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on LinkedIn!  / the-jira-life  Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/@thejiralife/...Hosts:

LIVE FROM LONG BEACH! Join us live from the Atlassian Builders' Summit as we see how Atlassian community members and JirAmigos get together and exchange ideas on Atlassian administration, Forge development, and Agile ways of working. Hear from attendees such as Josh Golosinskiy of GRYD.IO on the experience and see what's happening in real time.Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or...

Order in the court! This week on The Jira Life, we’re putting Jira on trial. The charge? Being a tool only for technical teams.In this special jury-style debate, we’ll examine both sides of the case:🔹The Prosecution: Jira is built for software teams, too complex for others🔹The Defense: Non-technical teams thrive with Jira — marketing, HR, legal, ops, and more🔹 The Jury (You!): Decide whether Jira is guilty or not guilty of being “too technical”We’ll bring evidence, real-world examples, and strong arguments — and then let the community weigh in with their verdict.So… is Jira just for engineers...

TEAM '25 Europe is done (at least when we do this episode!) Join Sarah #IBelieveSarah Wright and producer "King Bob" as we look at the best of field reports from Rodney and Alex. View the reactions of the latest news from Atlassian. Get insights from Atlassians, partners, and customers. And ease the FOMO.Thank you to Revyz for backing us up and making The Jira Life possible. https://www.revyz.io/The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on...

Barcelona, here we come! Come join us on The Jira Life as we get ready for Atlassian Team ’25 Europe in Barcelona! This week’s episode is all about the must-haves, travel tips, and insider insights to help you make the most of the conference.

It’s also a special one, this will be Alex’s first time traveling internationally, and he needs Rodney's and YOUR tips to help him prepare.

From planning your agenda and packing essentials, to navigating Barcelona and finding the best community meetups, we’ll cover everything you need to feel prepared (and excite...