Designing the Future of Work: Atlassian's Distributed Work Practices

Synopsis

In early 2020, the software company Atlassian made a bold commitment: employees could work from anywhere-forever. While many tech peers reversed course on remote work, Atlassian worked to optimize their fully distributed model across 13 countries. This case follows Annie Dean, Head of Team Anywhere, as she leads the development of data-driven work practices such as redesigning meetings, office spaces, and team rituals to support Atlassian's globally distributed workforce. By 2024, these internal practices had become more than an HR initiative, they were central to Atlassian's current business strategy. The company began embedding lessons from its internal experiments into its collaboration software, turning its workforce into a petri-dish for future products. But selling these practices to enterprise customers posed a new challenge: unlike Atlassian's traditional self-serve model, distributed work transformation required hands-on support, strategic advising, and cultural change, capabilities that the company had not previously built into its go-to-market approach. As Dean prepared for an executive strategy meeting, she and Atlassian's leadership faced key questions: how to scale internal practices without losing flexibility, how tightly to integrate work practices into products, and how to support customers through changes that required not just tools, but new ways of working. This case explores what it takes to transform the future of work from the inside out and to sell that transformation at scale.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Publisher:

Harvard Business Publishing

Date of Addition:

06/28/25

Copyrighted By:

HBS

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Business and Finance

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.