Software Companies at Scale Don't Have to Suck [EN]

As software companies grow, it's sadly the norm that innovation and creativity give way to top-down roadmaps or sales driven feature delivery. As a self-proclaimed "startup guy," I was skeptical when I joined Atlassian to see a company at 300 people (now 1500) that claimed to value innovation actually pull it off. To make creativity, innovation, and personal autonomy scale takes constant diligence and attention. In 30 (or 45 if time permits) minutes I'll give you the under-the-covers story of my last four years at Atlassian in the constant battle for combining unified strategy with with the need for innovation and creativity.