Weekly Wonder: Organizing Hackathons - Fostering Innovation in Your User Group

[#1]

Hi CUG members,

Running a hackathon inside your company is a powerful way to spark innovation, deepen product adoption, and create memorable shared experiences.

Whether your CUG group is just getting started or you’re looking for a fresh format beyond the usual demos and presentations, a well-run hackathon helps members collaborate across teams, experiment with new tools, and walk away with tangible improvements.

Below are five tips to help you organize and run a successful hackathon in your user group.

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1. Start With a Clear Purpose and Problem Space

Before choosing a date or sending invites, define what you want this hackathon to achieve. Is your primary goal to improve collaboration across teams, generate ideas that feed into your product governance, reduce pain points in Jira or Confluence, or showcase what power users can do? Good hackathon leaders should be explicit about the purpose so you can design everything else from timing to judging and follow-up around it.

For CUGs, frame the hackathon around real problems your members care about: “Reduce friction in our Jira workflows,” “Improve onboarding for new project teams,” or “Make our Confluence spaces easier to navigate.” Publish a short problem statement or theme in Confluence ahead of time so participants can start thinking, but keep it broad enough to invite creativity.

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2. Design for Inclusive, Cross‑Functional Participation

At Atlassian, internal hackathons are intentionally open to everyone - not just engineers. They even highlight non‑coding projects with dedicated prizes. That mindset is critical for your user group as well: the best solutions often come from pairing admins, project managers, analysts, designers, support agents, and leaders who experience Atlassian tools from different angles.

Encourage cross‑functional teams by explicitly asking participants to form mixed groups (for example, “aim for at least two different departments or roles per team”). In your promotional materials, call out that valuable contributions include problem definition, user research, storytelling, visual design, and pitching, not just configuring workflows or writing code.

If you have quieter members, consider pre‑matching them to teams so they’re not left scrambling to join a group on the day of the hackathon.

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3. Keep the Format Focused: Time‑Boxing, MVPs, and Short Pitches

Numerous examples highlight the power of tight constraints: 24 hours (or less), a minimum viable product, and a very short demo. Constraints prevent teams from getting bogged down in endless debate and force them to deliver something concrete by the end of the event.

For a CUG hackathon, this might look like a half‑day or one‑day event where teams:

• Spend the first hour refining their idea and success criteria.

• Use Jira to track tasks and scope a realistic MVP they can show.

• Finish with 3–5 minute demos focused on the problem, what they built or improved, and why it matters.

Make it clear that “done is better than perfect.” An updated Jira workflow, a new Confluence page template, a working prototype, or even a well‑designed concept with a clear implementation plan are all valid outcomes.

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4. Make the Mechanics Invisible: Plan Logistics So Creativity Can Flow

Seasoned organizers often say the best hackathons are the ones where the mechanics go unnoticed. That means you’ve done the work up front so participants can stay in flow instead of worrying about logistics. For a CUG manager, this includes scheduling, communication, tools, and simple rules of engagement.

Decide early whether the event will be in‑person, fully virtual, or hybrid, and set expectations accordingly. Use Confluence to host the event home page (agenda, rules, judging criteria, prize categories) and Jira or Trello to track projects and teams. Assign a few “local champions” or volunteers to handle questions, timekeeping, and troubleshooting throughout the day.

The more seamless the experience feels - clear timeline, easy access to rooms or meeting links, straightforward submission process - the more your members will remember the creativity, not the chaos.

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5. Close the Loop: Celebrate, Document, and Follow Through

It’s important to emphasize what happens after the hackathon as much as the event itself. You might turn projects into blog posts, fold them into innovation weeks, or roadmap them for future work - a smart way for organizers to explicitly “close the loop” so participants see what became of their ideas.

Do the same in your user group. After the hackathon:

• Host a short retrospective or debrief session to capture learnings and feedback.

• Create a Confluence summary page with each team’s project, screenshots, and a short write‑up.

• Share highlights and outcomes in your internal channels and in your CUG discussion group.

• Identify which projects can move forward (for example, into a governance board, an implementation backlog, or a small follow‑up working group).

Even non‑winning teams should leave knowing what the next steps could be. When participants see their ideas influencing real changes in your Atlassian environment, they’re far more likely to return, and to advocate for your user group across the company.

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A hackathon can be more than a fun one‑off event for your Company User Group - it can be a structured way to unlock innovation, strengthen cross‑team relationships, and tangibly improve how your organization uses Atlassian tools.

By clarifying your purpose, inviting diverse participation, using focused constraints, smoothing out the logistics, and intentionally following through, you’ll create a repeatable format that members look forward to and leaders value. With each iteration, your CUG becomes not just a forum for discussion, but a catalyst for meaningful change.

To help your community go deeper, share these resources from the Atlassian website in your next meeting, newsletter, or community post:

• Using a Hackathon to Spark Team Innovation and Deliver a Highly‑Requested Confluence Suggestion

• Ask Us Anything: INTERNAL HACKATHONS—From ShipIt to Evolving the Practice for the Future

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Blake Hall 

Thanks for your article.  In my experience, a corollary to your first tip is ensuring leadership support through education, buy-in, and demonstrated results.  Without such support, leaders may misunderstand the value relative to the effort / time commitment and thus challenge participation by some or all teams. 

Kind regards,
Bill

[Blake Hall]

Great point, thanks for sharing it!