Getting started from zero

[John Walker]

I know basically what Jira and Confluence are and what they can do but have never used either at all.  We're a start up and I'm looking to use them to pull together everyone from the founder to the developers.  We have .ppt, .doc, sketch and other reference data and need to get it into confluence and Jira to get to Jira-style collaboration vs. Google-style which just isn't going to cut it for us. 

We have a space that was created by a product owner that left the company, but it was only set up, and not used for much.  Can I somehow take control and become the "creator"/admin of the space..... So many questions....

[Matt Reiner _K15t_]

Hey @John Walker

You're in an exciting and confusing time. I'm glad you're getting started here but also sorry that it's a rough one.

As you get started, the important first step is to make sure you're a Confluence/Jira admin. This will ensure you can assume ownership of things and really get going. Once you're an admin, you'll be able to control all sorts of things for all your Atlassian apps here.

When it comes to getting started with Jira, there's a lot to learn, and break then fix in the path of learning. I'd recommend checking out the Jira documentation and also Jimmy Talks Jira.

Confluence is more where I have expertise. I love the Confluence documentation, especially when it comes to getting started. As you get started and want to know the best ways to do certain things, my team has made some helpful guides and videos to get you on the right track. We'll be hosting a live stream in early May all about structure spaces and pages in Confluence, which might be helpful, so maybe subscribe to join for that.

And then, of course, you've come to the right place here in the community. Asking questions specific to each product will help you get the answers you need.

[Danno]

You'll need to figure out who is your Org & Site Admin under users. Scroll down through the users list until you find a name that has that suffix.

That person is the Keymaster. Start there. That person will have all the access permissions needed to set you up. Hopefully it isn't the person who left.

[Matt Reiner _K15t_]

If you run into that, here's the process to becoming the key master (love this reference @Danno).

https://confluence.atlassian.com/confeval/other-atlassian-evaluator-resources/my-admin-left-the-company-how-do-i-gain-admin-access-to-atlassian-cloud-applications

[Taranjeet Singh]

Welcome to the Community, @John Walker !

I noticed that our wonderful Community leaders & Marketplace partners have already guided you to the right path on how to get started.

For any further questions related to Jira and Confluence products, I would suggest you to join the relevant product collections & groups on the community, so that you can get dedicated support from the community members.

Hope you have a great learning and sharing experience here!

[Jimmy Seddon]

@John Walker Welcome to the Community!

You already have some wonderful advice from the others here.  I'll just echo , don't be afraid to keep asking questions here.  People will be more than happy to help you find your way.

Good Luck! 

[Laura Campbell _Seibert Group_]

@John Walker Welcome!

My two tips would be

1. If possible, start with getting just one team using Jira and Confluence (not easy if your start up has people wearing lots of hats). There will be less to configure in Jira and Confluence, fewer people asking questions, and you'll be able to adjust things for this smaller group and then take the lessons learned when you expand to another team.
2. Don't underestimate the time/effort to spend helping people understand what work looks like with Jira and Confluence. It's a paradigm shift to go from Word docs and Google Sheets to an open system like Jira and Confluence, and the last thing you want is people attaching/linking the same old Word docs and Google Sheets to Jira issues or Confluence pages.