Community FiveByFive Round-up: January 2025

[#1]

Hello Everyone!

It’s that time once again to take a look at everything that has happened in the past month! From major events, to product announcements, to amazing people providing great tips & best practices to help the Community, I guarantee there is something here for everyone. Let’s get started!

Community Highlights:

As always, there are a TON of amazing things happening and here is just a small sample of all the great things you don’t want to miss out on!

• First up, there are a number of new updates to the community platform we know and love. All of these are minor updates but if you want to know what has changed and why, you should read through the release notes.
  Community release notes for January 8, 2025

• Do you know who the most active users were last quarter? Were you one of them? Join me in wishing the leaders of the pack a HUGE congratulations! If you aren’t on this list, maybe you will be next quarter.
  Leader of the Pack for October, November, and December 2024

• The Atlassian Community team is committed to making your time in the Online Community an enjoyable journey. That being said there are new paths and milestones for you to work towards available. There’s a new contributor rank as well as some new milestones to track your progress. For those of you who are already leaders, I’m sorry there’s nothing new for you here. But, you should check this out to see how you can help new members grow!
  New Rising Star pathways starting today! 🌟

• Do you like collecting badges as much as I do? The Community team has added some new badge levels for creating topics. If you have already passed these you will automatically receive them. If you haven’t yearn them all yet, you have something to work towards.
  More 'Topics created' badges! 💬

• Finally, the community launch pad is a great place to start your journey and you can even earn a badge while doing it. If you are just joining the community, I’d recommend starting here.
  Community Launchpad + Lift Off kudos badge 🚀

Member Article Highlights:

As always, there are a TON of amazing articles written by many of your fellow community members. This is just a small sample of all the great content you don’t want to miss out on!

• First up, is something that made me laugh. I never considered Jira tickets having voices, but this was very entertaining! Thank you @Anahit Sukiasyan for putting a smile on face I hope it helps to brighten others days as well.
  If Jira Tickets Could Talk: A Day in the Life of an Issue😄

• Protecting your Jira data is very important. Do you know how to correcting configure things to ensure your data is safe? Be sure to check out these great tips by @Sushant Verma. Even if you think you have everything setup correctly already, it can never hurt to learn more about what others are doing you might learn something you never thought of before. I know I do every time I talk with someone new.
  Jira Permissions: How to Control Access and Protect Your Data

• There is nothing worse than not being able to see all of your work. What’s the best way to make work visible? Boards! Which type of board should you use? That depends on the way your team works.  @Amanda Barber has written a wonderful primer describing the different types of boards and when to use them. If you are just getting started with boards, or maybe you aren’t sure if you are using the right board, be sure to check this out!
  Jira Boards: Making Invisible Work Visible

• Enjoy doing cool things with Automation? I do too!  @Valerie Knapp has put together an awesome how-to guide on using automation to make lookup tables for calculated values. If I’ve piqued your interest, you should read the rest of the article.
  How to use Automation Lookup Tables for calculated values!

• Finally, I do a lot of charity work to support my local children’s hospital. I have never really given much thought into what goes into the macro level planning until reading this great article by @Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_. As I take a more active role in planning this year and if you are involved in planning activities yourself, I would encourage you to read through this and learn from these great tips!
  Non-Profit Planning with Confluence Whiteboards

New Features & Product Updates:

Want to keep up to date on all the cool things Atlassian has announced about their products? Be sure to read through these, then go check out all the others for your favorite product!

• As Jira evolves into Software and Business projects, the next great feature for you to start using is the ability to track Software releases on Business project calendars. Tracking up to 5 Software projects and able to set key dates for everyone, this will really help with transparency between teams.
  Track Software Release Dates in Business Project Calendars

• Selective Data copy for Premium sandboxes is now GA! But what does this mean? You can now choose specific projects or Spaces you want to copy instead of having to copy your entire production instance. This is a great move forward in making sandboxes a usable testing ground. My only request would be to copy without issue data and it’s perfect! If you are on a Cloud Premium plan, you should check this out!
  Now in GA: Selective Data Copy for JSM Sandboxes!

• Some of you may know that I’m in the Cyber Security space. This is less of a new feature and more of a how-to guide from Atlassian on how to setup the various features that have been released within the past 12 months to detect and respond to your own security alerts faster. I encourage everyone to read this article!
  Security Operations with Jira and Confluence

• Atlassian obtaining FedRAMP has been a hot topic since the end of server was announced. We have another update and it looks like Atlassian is very close to crossing the finish line. If you have been waiting on FedRAMP you should give this a read through.
  FedRAMP Update: One step closer to FedRAMP Moderate ATO

• It just didn’t feel right to have a list of new features that didn’t include something related to AI. Work Breakdown will help you split larger tasks into smaller more manageable work units. If you haven’t started using Atlassian Intelligence, there seems to be no better time to start than right now.
  AI Work Breakdown Is Generally Available!

Atlassian Events:

As much as there are always things happening within the Online Community, it’s also one of the first places that Atlassian will share announcements about upcoming events you should be aware of.

• 🎟️ Our annual government conference is back - grab your free pass today!

• Join us in Munich this March for Atlassian Connect: Cloud Bound

• Certification Events at Team '25 Anaheim

• 🎊 🎆 Sherif-sclusive: New Atlassian Intelligence and Rovo Updates (+ Badge!)

• Register for our Product Operations 🎥 webinar!

Available Beta Programs:

Do you like to be on the bleeding edge and try new things? Be sure to check out these early access features you can sign up to test!

• SCIM-synced Teams EAP - You can now connect your groups to existing teams!

• Announcing Multiple Sandboxes Open Beta and additional Sandbox updates

• Sign up to beta test Atlassian's new product navigation!

• The Workday Integration BETA has begun!

• Introducing AI Work Creation from Slack – Now in Beta!

As I continue to evolve this article you will see minor changes each month so that I can maximize the content that I believe should be highlighted. I hope you continue to enjoy this format. Please be sure to stay healthy, stay safe and I’ll see you back here next month.

Take care!

[Valerie Knapp]

Thanks for the mention @Jimmy Seddon !

[Amanda Barber]

Thanks for the mention, @Jimmy Seddon! 

[Anahit Sukiasyan]

Thank you for the fantastic roundup, @Jimmy Seddon! 🎉
I'm so glad my article brought a smile to your face! 😊 The Community is an incredible place filled with inspiring contributions, and it's always exciting to read and learn from fellow members. Looking forward to another great month of insights, tips, and fun discussions! 🚀

[Ajay Adhikari]

Thank you for the roundup.