The Life of the modern Atlassian Admin - A poetry slam

[#1]

In the past couple of weeks, I held a webinar on Rovo Governance, did a panel on the future of Service management, written tons of User documentation and had multiple calls on "how do I do this in...". I only created one Jira space.

The reason for that is not because I am a consultant. No. It's because our role as Admins has changed. If you follow prominent voices of the Ecosystem, you've seen this discussion quite a lot frequently: the times of the lone-wolf Jira Admin are over. At least when you reached Cloud.

For the recent Community Event in Cologne I've decided to write a poetry slam about this. I re-recorded for slightly better audio and don't quite know what's happened. I promise, I am nice in real-life and don't (always) look so unhappy :)

Anyway. Hope you enjoy this.

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The life of the modern Atlassian Admin

by Rebekka Heilmann

Back in the day
it was one Admin,
one Jira Server,
Under the desk, humming next to the printer,
a free license,
a hero in hoodie and hope,
guarding workflows and permissions.

Those were the days of pure simplicity.
No automation.
No AI whispering “I can help with that” from the corner of your browser tab.
Just plain Jira
set to Pirate English.

But those days?
Gone like Server edition,
archived and sunset like an unloved plugin.

Now there is Cloud
where updates fall like rain
and the roadmap never sleeps.

With great scalability
comes great responsibility.

We are no longer just masters of configuration.
We are architects of collaboration,
therapists for teams,
wizards in the workflow wilderness,
casting spells through automation
and taming the chaos of Confluence pages
nobody will ever read…

We’re the ones who know
which buttons to press,
which to never press,
and which will definitely be deprecated next month.

That is,
if it was part of the changelog.

The changelog.
A world of its own.
You never got the email
that didn’t even mention the affected site?
Did not read the Community article?
Missed the Blog post?
Never heard of the Developer Forum?
Cannot find anything
For the life of you
in the Cloud Changes?

Same.

And when the update
we didn’t know was coming
Nobody needed
and nobody wants
hits our systems…

We still test, we guide,
we explain, we question.
because someone has to make sure
they at least work.

When do we get the time
to understand the newest products
when we’ve not yet caught up
with 2024 TEAM’s announcements?
Trying out Loom? Understanding the Software Collection?
Evaluating Focus, Talent or Jira Align?

All while juggling
Standardisation vs. Customisation
”Automate it all” vs “Things are happening automatically and I don’t know what’s going on”
and “No, this is not a Board, it’s a project”.
Sorry. Space.

And these days… we speak AI.

Because now, every Admin needs to know the code behind the curtain:
Agent building.
Governance.
Integration.
Vibe Coding.
Use cases that actually make sense for teams.

We explain prompting,
set usage boundaries,
and break the news that —
no, Rovo cannot automate your compliance audit
or magically fix all items in the backlog overnight

Skills?
We collect them like badges.
Business analysis, change management, system thinking,
security, build pipelines, team work methods.
Knowledge management, AI ethics, governance.

The modern Atlassian ecosystem is too vast
for a single superhero Admin.
We need cross-disciplinary crews —
the integrators, the facilitators,
the thinkers and the tinkerers.

A squad of curious connectors:
those focused on users,
those knee-deep in APIs,
and those who translate between the two languages
of “business needs” and “technical limitations.”

“Admin” — the word feels too small now,
like trying to fit the Cloud into a shoebox.
Because we don’t just admin,
we adapt, advise, and architect.
We coach, communicate, and calibrate.
We’re part analyst, part firefighter, part life coach
for teams who swear
their workflows really need that 7-step approval.

Once a year — July 15th —
we get to celebrate ourselves.
Jira Admin Appreciation Day.

Yes, it still says Jira — and we honor that.
Because even though we’ve grown beyond,
it still feels like the center of it all.

Maybe next year it’ll be the Collaboration Architect Appreciation Day —
and maybe, just maybe, it will be a good thing
as we have one less occasion
where we’ll have to explain
that it’s Jira. Not JEIRA.

So here’s to us —
the modern Atlassian Admins.
The translators, the troubleshooters,
the bridge builders in the age of AI.

May your automations behave,
your permissions never fail,
and your workflows actually flow.

Because at the end of the day —
call us what you will —
we’re still the ones
who make teamwork work.

[Anahit Sukiasyan]

This is GOLD, @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_! 😂👏

This hit way too close to home.

Let's make “Rovo cannot magically fix your backlog” a public service announcement, please. 😅🙌

It's true, we’re no longer solo tech warriors, we’ve grown into collaborative, cross-functional problem-solvers who somehow keep everything running. And that’s something to be proud of. 💙

Here’s to workflows that actually flow and automations that behave (just once, please). Cheers! 🚀

[Robert Eiser]

Love it, you captured the experience perfectly. 

[Ciara TN]

and taming the chaos of Confluence pages
nobody will ever read… 

Hits too hard :D 

Brilliantly done @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ 

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_]

Thanks for the lovely comments @Ciara TN @Robert Eiser @Anahit Sukiasyan 

While writing "JEIRA" the very german way, I was wondering how other languages would write out that mispronounciation. Any suggestions?

[Sai Krishna]

I literally had goosebumps reading through this. Awesome work. @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ 

[Brendan Pancheri]

This is a wonderful summary of the privilege and with it, expanded responsibilities, that is the evolution of the Jira Admin. Thanks for the thoughtful poem!

[Cengiz Akyildiz]

Lovely!  🙌

[Josh McManus]

I feel so seen. <3

[Anahit Sukiasyan]

Haha true @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_every language will butcher “JEIRA” in its own special way.
In Armenian it would probably become Zhira, I don’t even know how you’d read that, I’ll just pronounce it for you in person or send a voice note. 😂