Explore change management and adoption best practices
Drive lasting adoption and reduce friction during your Atlassian Cloud migration with these proven change management best practices.Introduction
Over the years, we’ve seen organizations of every size adopt Atlassian apps at scale. These best practices will help you ensure lasting, meaningful change in your own company.
1. Change = people + process + tools
Successful change always starts with people. Many initiatives struggle because they focus only on process or technology. Consider how each role, team, or department will be affected, and clearly answer the “what’s in it for me.” When employees see how the change makes their work easier, they are more likely to embrace it.
2. Adoption is an ongoing journey
Launching change communications is only the beginning. Real adoption takes time as people acknowledge, accept, and adapt. Reinforce your message with consistent updates and remember that technology evolves, too. Keep users informed of new features and improvements so adoption continues to grow.
TIP: If you already have a newsletter, intranet, or Slack/Teams channel, consider sharing monthly tips and tricks, new feature highlights, and training opportunities.
3. Meet users where they are
Show teams how new apps fit into their existing workflows. Be clear about what the new process or app will replace, and connect adoption directly to their daily work. Empathy is key: when users see continuity rather than disruption, the change feels manageable.
TIP: Demonstrate how Atlassian apps like Jira integrate with tools such as Slack. Integrations make transitions smoother and show users how Cloud enhances, rather than disrupts, their work. Learn more about integrations here.
4. Tone is set at the top
As you’re planning your rollout, getting senior executives and leaders to endorse the change can help with broader organizational acceptance. In addition to your formal Executive Sponsor(s), consider having an additional set of senior leaders further endorse the change. It could be as simple as forwarding the announcement to their departments to show that they are on board and supportive. We also recommend hosting a training session specifically for senior leaders so they can learn how their teams will be impacted.
Leadership buy-in accelerates adoption. Alongside your Executive Sponsor, involve other senior leaders to endorse the change. Even simple gestures, such as forwarding rollout announcements or attending a training session, show their teams that this initiative matters. We also recommend hosting a dedicated leader training to help them understand both the apps and the user perspective.
5. Build your champions community early
Engage your Champions, at all levels, as early as possible. Their enthusiasm and credibility help seed adoption within departments before the broader rollout. A pilot program for Champions allows them to test tools first, onboard their peers, and provide valuable feedback that strengthens your wider launch. Champions will tell you if the messaging is working and where it can be improved, giving you the opportunity to course-correct and increase the success of your rollout.
6. Make it fun
If it’s appropriate, gamify adoption with lighthearted activities that build momentum and engagement.
- Create friendly competitions between departments on tool usage
- Call for the most creative use case
- Feature wins and use cases in a monthly newsletter
7. Show is better than tell
Demonstrations are always more effective than instructions alone. Build your training plan around showing users how tools work in real scenarios.
- Host lunch-and-learn sessions where teams can try apps hands-on
- Offer department-specific training aligned to real use cases (ideally led by champions)
- Record these sessions to reuse for onboarding new employees
8. Keep an open feedback loop
Your rollout is strongest when users feel heard. Define how feedback will be collected and acted on, whether through Champions, Slack or Teams channels, surveys, or your service desk. A good feedback loop helps you address concerns quickly, capture best practices, and track the business outcomes adoption is delivering. Resistance may occur, but you can address it directly with your communications that reiterate the reasons for the change, the enablement and support you will provide, and feedback channels available.