Atlassian · Execution · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Jira combine two products?

Atlassian makes software for planning, building, and tracking work, including Jira. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

execution planning
cross functional alignment
customer migration
prioritization
metrics

The situation

You are a PM in the Jira organization. Leadership asks you to propose how Atlassian should combine Jira Work Management, used by many business teams, with Jira, used heavily by engineers, into a single product experience and market story. The company wants to reduce overlap and internal complexity, but both products already have active customers, established workflows, and teams that depend on them. Why now, separate roadmaps and messaging are creating drag, and the change will touch product, design, engineering, marketing, and data teams across multiple time zones. Assume about 500 people will be involved directly or indirectly. The hard part is not only product design. You need a plan that keeps customers stable while the underlying product changes, gives leaders confidence that many teams are moving against the same goals, and still lets each function manage its own work. You are not being asked to redesign Jira from scratch. You are being asked for an execution approach that can guide the merger from planning through rollout, with clear trade offs, ownership, and safeguards.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page execution plan memo for Jira leadership.

Your answer must

State 2 to 4 shared goals and clear non goals for the product merger.
Propose an operating model for coordinating product, design, engineering, marketing, and data, including how leaders see one overall plan and how individual teams manage their own work.
Identify the main customer experience risks during the transition and give specific mitigations for each.
Recommend a rollout approach, including key phases, decision gates, and how you would communicate changes internally and to customers.
Define success metrics and leading indicators for both customer impact and program execution.

Constraints

Do not assume a full rebuild of Jira or a long pause in normal product delivery.
Customers on both products must be able to keep working through the transition without major disruption.
Your plan must work across globally distributed teams and many functions, not just engineering.
Do not assume major new headcount or a reorganization before work begins.

Format

Use short headings. Include one table for risks and mitigations, and one table for metrics and owners.

How Atlassian actually played it

Atlassian's head of product for Jira growth and enterprise describes combining two products, one used mainly by engineers and one aimed at business teams, into a single Jira without interrupting customers. The plan relied on shared goals, a cross-team program view, and buy-in from around 500 people across time zones. Helpful for PMs who have to merge products and keep multiple teams aligned.

Set shared goals first, then give each team its own view into one plan.
A merger of products is mostly a coordination problem across design, engineering, marketing and data.
Protect the customer experience while the underlying product changes.
Use your own product to run the program, which also tests it.

Built from How we merged Jira Work Management into Jira, using Jira by Ryan Narragon, Atlassian.