The Atlassian Community: for you, by you. As we dream up ways to enhance your experiences here, we rely heavily on the input of those who are most engaged. Enter: the Community Advisory Board.
What it is
If this is the first time you're hearing of it, don't fret. This group has been working mostly behind the scenes for the past year to advise, support and advocate for the online community at large. They represent diverse skills and expertise, and are invested in the health of the community and its future. During our monthly meetings, they tackle myriad tasks, ranging from reporting usability issues to assessing the impact of proposed programs and everything in between.
The first cohort was hand-selected by our team, and includes names you've probably seen a lot of in your community travels: @Nic Brough -Adaptavist-, @Susan Hauth _Jira Queen_, Daniel Wester and David Garcia. These four have helped shape a space that thousands of people use every day to ask questions, trade stories and connect with others.
What they've been working on
Members of the CAB are often called upon to validate concepts for design changes to the online community — in the future, our goal is to make more informed decisions by involving the Board even earlier in the process. Below are some examples of recent projects the Board has weighed in on:
- Profile Cards (feedback was positive): We implemented this into the community as a shipped feature.
- Header updates/search concepts (feedback was mixed): We shared some early proof of concepts for what search in the header could look like, updated it based on feedback and shipped the version visitors see now.
- Sign in homepage preview/Community Feed (feedback was mixed): After presenting our initial ideas to the CAB members, we made some changes based on their suggestions, shared an updated version and then shipped it.
- Groups demo (feedback was mixed): We did another round of iterations and incorporated the feedback, which is now shipped in production.
- Cloud vs. server create form (feedback was positive): We felt validated in our approach and rolled this out to production.
- Enhanced profiles (feedback was positive): We felt validated in our approach and now have a prototype that will be shipped soon.
Moving forward
Starting in September 2018, we'll be adding two new seats to the Board, with the intent of incorporating additional viewpoints into our discussions. If you're interested in serving on the board in the future, email communitymanagers@atlassian.com.
