Hi CUG members! đź‘‹
As your Company User Group (CUG) grows, one of the most common questions we hear is:
“How do we stop answering the same questions over and over and instead point people to one trusted place?”
That’s where a resource library comes in. A well-designed library helps you centralize trusted content, highlight Atlassian best practices, and make it easier for users to self-serve.
When paired with good communication and governance, it becomes one of the most powerful tools your CUG has for driving adoption of Jira, Confluence, Trello, and other Atlassian products.
In this week’s Weekly Wonder, we’ll walk through practical tips for creating and curating a resource library for your CUG, using publicly available Atlassian resources as your foundation.
We’ll also share specific ideas to encourage members to actually use the library - not just know it exists.
Tip 1: Start with a Clear Purpose and Audience
Before you create any pages or folders, step back and define:
Atlassian’s own content hubs (like product docs, Atlassian University, and the Atlassian Team Playbook are all organized with a clear purpose in mind: onboarding, learning, or best-practice guidance. Borrow that thinking for your CUG.
Once you decide on the primary audience, write a one-sentence mission statement at the top of your main library page. For example:
“This library helps Atlassian users at [Your Company] quickly find trusted, up-to-date resources on how we work with Jira, Confluence, and related tools.”
This simple statement keeps your curation focused and makes it easier to decide what doesn’t belong.
Tip 2: Build a Simple, Intuitive Structure (Don’t Over-Engineer It)
Think of your library like a physical bookshelf: people should be able to scan and find what they need in just a few clicks.
Drawing from Atlassian’s own knowledge-management guidance (for example, how Confluence spaces use spaces → pages → labels and how the Atlassian Support site groups content by product and task), aim for:
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A small number of top-level categories, such as:
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“Getting Started” (onboarding, basics)
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“By Product” (Jira, Confluence, Trello, Jira Service Management, etc.)
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“Ways of Working” (team practices, governance, workflows)
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“Training & Learning” (Atlassian University courses, recorded sessions)
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“Templates & Examples” (Confluence templates, sample Jira projects or boards)
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Consistent page naming, e.g.:
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“Jira – Getting Started for End Users”
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“Confluence – Space & Page Best Practices”
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“Governance – Jira Workflows and Permissions”
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Labels/tags to make search work harder for you:
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Tag by product (jira, confluence, trello)
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Tag by audience (admin, end-user, project-lead)
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Tag by topic (onboarding, governance, reporting, automation)
Atlassian Community and support sites often highlight “Most popular” or “Recently updated” content to guide visitors. You can replicate that with a small “Start here” or “Most used” section at the top of your main library page to reduce choice overload.
Tip 3: Curate, Don’t Copy – Link to Atlassian’s Official Resources
You do not need to rewrite Atlassian’s documentation or training; instead, build a curated front door that points users to the right public resources plus any company-specific context.
Useful public Atlassian resources you can safely link into your library include:
For each external resource, provide a short “why this matters here” note. Example:
“Use this Jira best practices collection to explore recommended workflows, admin guidance, and common patterns. CUG admins at [Your Company] especially recommend the sections on automation templates and report configuration.”
That small bit of context helps users understand why they should click and how it applies to your environment.
Tip 4: Include “How We Do It Here” Pages to Localize Best Practices
Atlassian’s public content is intentionally broad. Your CUG can add huge value by documenting how your organization applies those best practices.
Consider creating short “localization” pages such as:
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“How [Your Company] Uses Jira Projects and Boards”
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“Confluence Space Structure at [Your Company]”
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“Standard Jira Issue Types and When to Use Them”
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“Our Atlassian Governance & Change Management Approach”
These pages can:
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Link out to Atlassian best-practice articles and guides for depth
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Explain company-specific decisions (e.g., which issue types are allowed, naming conventions, or approval processes)
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Reference internal examples (screenshots, demo projects, or templates) that make the practices tangible
This mirrors what Atlassian recommends for governance and enablement: centralize your own policies and standards in Confluence, while linking to Atlassian docs, learning content, and the Support & Training Resources for deeper reading.
Tip 5: Make It Easy to Discover – Integrate the Library Into Everyday Touchpoints
Even the best library fails if no one knows where it lives. Atlassian’s own ecosystem surfaces key resources in multiple places—support portals, in-product help, Community, and learning centers. You can borrow this multi-channel approach inside your organization.
Some practical discovery tactics:
Over time, your goal is for users to default to the library when they have a question - just like they’d default to Atlassian Support or Community.
Tip 6: Treat It as a Living Library With Lightweight Governance
Successful Atlassian content hubs—like best-practices collections, content libraries for products, and curated Community collections—are actively maintained, not “set and forget.”
You don’t need heavy process, but you do need a few guardrails:
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Assign ownership:
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Identify a small “library squad” (e.g., your CUG leadership team) responsible for curating content.
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Make it clear who maintains each major section (“Jira,” “Confluence,” “Training,” etc.).
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Set a review cadence:
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For key pages (like “Start Here,” onboarding, and top workflows), review quarterly to remove outdated links and add new Atlassian resources (e.g., new features, updated docs, or recent Atlassian University courses).
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Use labels and metadata:
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Have a deprecation plan:
This mirrors how Atlassian curates collections like “Best Practices in Jira Align” or content libraries for specific solutions: curation, tagging, and periodic refreshes keep them trustworthy.
Tips for Driving CUG Member Adoption of the Library
If you want your library to be used (not just admired), you’ll need to market and embed it. Here are tactics aligned with how Atlassian promotes its own content libraries and communities.
1. Use the Library as a Default Answer in Support & Q&A
When admins or champions answer questions in internal chat or tickets, get into the habit of:
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Responding with: “Great question! The answer is here in our CUG Resource Library: [link]”
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Updating the library if the answer isn’t there yet, then sharing the link
This mirrors the way Atlassian Community leaders often answer with links to docs, community articles, or learning content, training users to self-serve while still feeling supported.
2. Run “Show & Tell” Sessions Featuring Library Content
Take inspiration from Atlassian’s workshops and webinars, which often walk through existing documentation and demos. For your CUG:
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Host short sessions like “15-Minute Tour: Getting the Most From Our Atlassian Resource Library”
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Each month, spotlight:
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A new Atlassian article (e.g., a Confluence content-management best-practices post)
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A new internal page you’ve added (e.g., “Our Jira Governance Model”)
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Record the sessions and add them back into the library under “Training & Recordings,” similar to how Atlassian offers on-demand webinar libraries.
3. Connect the Library to Change Management and New Features
When Atlassian ships major changes or when your organization rolls out new practices, anchor communication around the library:
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For new features:
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Share Atlassian’s official blog posts or docs about the feature.
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Add a short internal “What this means for [Your Company]” note in the library.
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Announce in your CUG channel: “Learn about [new feature] and how we’re using it here: [library link].”
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For process changes:
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Document the new workflow or standard in the library.
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Direct all questions to that page, and update it as FAQs emerge.
This is consistent with Atlassian’s guidance on using Confluence as a central hub for governance and change and linking out to detailed product docs or University content.
4. Incentivize Contributions and Usage
Look at how Atlassian Community recognizes and rewards activity (badges, shoutouts, “Rising Star” and “Community Leader” programs). You can introduce lightweight versions internally:
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Recognition:
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Campaigns:
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Feedback loops:
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Add a simple “Suggest a resource” form or comment area on the main library page.
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Periodically review suggestions and fold them into your curation, just as Atlassian teams invite customer stories and examples to enrich official content libraries.
Tip 7: Start Small, Iterate Often
It’s easy to feel like you need a perfect, fully-populated library before sharing it. Atlassian’s own approach to building collections and content libraries is often iterative and guided by real usage.
Practical, low-friction starting path:
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Create a single, clean “Resource Library – Start Here” page in Confluence.
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Add:
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3–5 of your most frequently used Atlassian links (docs, Community posts, Atlassian University)
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1–2 “How we do it here” pages
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Clear categories, even if some are empty placeholders initially.
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Announce the page in your CUG channels and meetings.
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For one month, route every common question through the library—adding or refining content as needed.
Within a few weeks, you’ll have organically grown the most important parts of your library, driven by real user needs—just as Atlassian curates high-traffic support and Community content over time.
Wrapping Up: Your CUG’s Single Source of Truth
A thoughtfully curated resource library transforms your CUG from “a place we meet sometimes” into an everyday enablement engine for your entire organization. By:
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Defining a clear purpose and audience
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Creating a simple, intuitive structure
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Curating Atlassian’s public best-practice content instead of recreating it
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Adding company-specific “how we do it here” guidance
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Actively promoting and governing the library
…you’ll give your members a trusted, living hub they’ll return to again and again.
We’d love to hear from you:
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What have you found most challenging about maintaining an internal resource library?
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Are there Atlassian docs, Community posts, or University courses your users rely on most that we should highlight in future Weekly Wonders?
Share your experiences, questions, or favorite resources in the comments below, and don’t forget to drop a link to your own CUG resource library if you have one!
