Weekly Wonder: Using CUGs to Pilot New Atlassian Features Before Wider Rollout

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Hi CUG Leaders,

This week, we're exploring one of the most strategic ways your Company User Group can add value to your organization: using your CUG as a pilot group for new Atlassian features before they roll out more broadly.

Whether it's an Early Access Program, an open Beta, or a newly released capability, your CUG is uniquely positioned to test, evaluate, and build confidence in new features before they land on every desk. This approach reduces risk, builds internal expertise, and positions your group as a trusted voice in how your organization adopts Atlassian tools.

Below are five practical tips to help you turn your CUG into a deliberate, effective pilot group for new features.

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1. Monitor Atlassian release channels so you know what's coming

You can't pilot what you don't know about. Make it a habit to track Atlassian's product blogs, release notes, and the What's New section in your Admin Hub. Atlassian features typically move through distinct phases: Early Access Programs (invite-only), Beta (admin-enabled and opt-in), and General Availability, so knowing where a feature sits in that lifecycle tells you how and when your CUG can get involved.

Assign one or two members to monitor these channels and bring a short "what's new" summary to each CUG meeting. This keeps the group informed without requiring everyone to follow every update individually, and it ensures promising features don't slip by unnoticed.

2. Designate Feature Champions to own the pilot

Not every CUG member needs to test every feature. Assign "Feature Champions" - members who volunteer to take ownership of evaluating a specific new capability. A Feature Champion's job is to enable the feature in a sandbox or test environment, explore it hands-on, document what they find, and present their findings back to the group.

This distributed approach keeps piloting manageable. It also builds deep expertise across your membership: one champion becomes the go-to person for a new Jira automation rule, another for a Confluence AI feature, and so on. Over time, your CUG develops a bench of internal specialists who can support a smoother rollout to the wider organization.

3. Use sandbox environments to test safely before production

Piloting should never mean experimenting on live projects with real data at risk. Encourage your CUG to take advantage of Atlassian's sandbox environments, which are available on Premium and Enterprise plans. Sandboxes let you enable Beta features, test configurations, and explore new workflows without affecting your production instance.

If your organization uses Release Tracks, work with your Atlassian admin to enroll your sandbox in the Preview track so you can evaluate bundled changes a full month before they hit production. This gives your CUG time to identify issues, prepare documentation, and brief teams before anything changes for end users.

4. Document findings and build a feedback loop

A pilot is only as valuable as the learning it produces. After testing a new feature, have your Feature Champions document their findings in Confluence using a consistent format: what the feature does, how it was tested, what worked well, what didn't, and whether the group recommends enabling it more broadly.

Share these write-ups with your Atlassian admin team and any stakeholders involved in change management decisions. This creates a feedback loop where your CUG's hands-on experience directly informs rollout timing and training plans. It also gives you a growing library of feature evaluations that new members can reference and that leadership can cite when making adoption decisions.

5. Position your CUG as the bridge between early access and company-wide rollout

The real power of piloting is what happens after the test. Use your CUG meetings to host short demos of features you've piloted, share lessons learned, and answer questions from colleagues who haven't tried them yet. This transforms your group from a testing team into an enablement channel - the place where people come to understand what's changing, why it matters, and how to get started.

When your organization sees that CUG-vetted features roll out more smoothly, with fewer support tickets and faster adoption, your group earns a reputation as a strategic asset. That credibility can also open doors to Atlassian's own Early Access Programs, where your CUG can influence product direction alongside the product teams building the tools you use every day.

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Your CUG already brings people together to share knowledge and solve problems. By adding a deliberate piloting practice, you give the group a concrete, high-visibility way to contribute to your organization's Atlassian strategy.

Start small - pick one upcoming feature, assign a champion, test it in a sandbox, and share what you learn. Over time, this rhythm can become one of the most valued things your CUG does, turning every new release into an opportunity rather than a surprise.

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Public Resources You Can Share with Your Group

• Atlassian University – Free Training & Tutorials 

  • Short, product-focused courses that can serve as inspiration for your series topics or pre-work for attendees.

• Work Life by Atlassian – Teamwork & Collaboration Articles 

  • Practical articles on team rituals, facilitation, and collaboration that can inform how you structure your recurring sessions.

• Atlassian Team Playbook 

  • Ready-to-use plays for running retrospectives, health monitors, and other team activities that make excellent recurring series formats.