Most teams find experts by asking around, keeping spreadsheets, or sending out skill surveys. These methods all depend on people updating information by hand, so the data goes stale fast. There’s another way: build skill profiles from the work people already do in Jira and Confluence.
But before we say more about that, we want to learn from you how your team handles this today. It takes only a few minutes for our short survey.
Why is finding the right expert so hard?
A new project lands on your desk. The first question: who can actually do this work?
Sounds simple. It rarely is. The person you need might sit in another team. Their skill might come from a project nobody remembers. So you end up asking the same few people again, or opening a job posting for a skill that’s already in the building.
How do most teams find experts today?
Chances are, you use at least one of these:
- Asking around. Quick and easy in small teams. In bigger ones, you only find the people you already know.
- Spreadsheets and skill matrices. Great on the day they’re created. A few months later, half the entries are outdated.
- HR profiles. Filled in during onboarding, then mostly forgotten.
- Skill surveys. Useful snapshots, but they take time to run, and people get tired of answering them.
The common problem? Every one of them depends on someone updating information by hand.
What if skill profiles updated themselves?
Your team’s daily work already tells a story. The topics people work on in Jira and the pages they contribute to in Confluence show what they know. These signals can be turned into skill profiles that stay current, with no forms and no surveys.
Of course, this raises a fair question: what about privacy? If skills come from someone’s work, that person should see what was inferred and decide how it appears to others. That’s especially important for teams with strict rules on employee data.
Is there a Jira app that does this?
Yes, that’s exactly why we built Meridian People & Skills Hub. It’s a Jira Cloud app that builds skill profiles from activity in Jira and Confluence, and employees stay in control of how their skills appear.
- Project managers staff work based on hands-on experience.
- HR teams spot skill gaps and hidden talent.
- Leaders see where critical knowledge depends on just a few people.
The app launched in October 2026, and early access is free on the Atlassian Marketplace.
How does your team find experts? Tell us!
We’re curious how expert and skill discovery really works in your daily workflow, whether you’d ever use a tool for it or not.
👉 Take the survey here —> https://go.elevatic.com/wLPnxn
And we’d love to keep the conversation going here too: how do you find the right person for a task today? Share your experience in the comments!
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