Time for something a little different on the AC blog.
We often share how our team can help you get the most out of your Atlassian tool and solve your challenges. But we don’t often talk about the people who actually make up that team. We thought it was time that changed.
So, we’re lifting the curtain on our resident Atlassian training expert: Cedric Oglesby.
In this Q&A, Cedric explains how you can prepare for training, why it’s so important, and what his favourite ice breaker (shudder) is. Let’s meet him now: AC’s Atlassian-certified, dedicated trainer, Cedric.
Hello! We’re talking over teams today - thank you for sitting down with us and exploring all things Atlassian training. Can we start with your experience?
My university degree is in HR – and part of that is training and development. Now this isn’t just systems training – it’s also soft skills training and personal development training.
But the bulk of my career has been in technical training, for Fortune 500 companies and for smaller organisations.
And what do you most enjoy about training?
For me, it’s when you see the lights go on in someone’s eyes. When you’re training someone to do something and you can see them go, ‘Oh! I got it!’
That’s really rewarding.
Let’s hunker down and talk about Atlassian specifically. What do you love about the tools?
I think what’s good about Atlassian is that the tools evolve so much – especially since I first started using them. As a business, they have so much of the market covered, and there’s such a demand for their tools – and they respond to that by continually developing and enhancing their tech stack.
If you look now at Atlassian going to Cloud, you can see all this change again as people migrate from Server (or Data Center). That means there’s a big demand for training at the moment so people can understand the difference between the two systems.
The pace of change is exciting. And there’s also something democratic about Cloud, because smaller organisations – who might not have the internal resource to manage their own infrastructure – can still benefit from these powerful tools.
In terms of Atlassian training, what can people expect from a course?
Well, we have a whole list of training courses on our website you should check out, of course. (Chuckles)
But they usually last for either a day, or half a day. And what’s great about the Atlassian training approach is that each participant gets their own Cloud instance to work in.
I’m a big fan of hands-on learning, so this is fantastic. Learning by doing – playing, experimenting – it keeps everyone engaged and interested.
And they get me! I’ll run through the course content, ask lots of questions (I like questions), and I’ll also ask people to summarise what they’ve learnt too. There’s always lots of interaction with Cedric!
What do teams get out of training?
One thing you get is that everyone ends up with the same level of knowledge.
You’ll find people who have maybe used a tool for two or three years, but never had any formalised training. And then you see them go, ‘Oh, I never knew how to do that!’. Well, that’s because you never attended my training. (Chuckles again. Seriously, working with Cedric is a hoot.)
You also get the chance to undo bad habits. Or I might even show people an easier way of doing something! There are shortcuts in all tools, Atlassian included, so I’ll find ways you can make your work easier.
I’ll always show you the long way round first though – to show you how it works. Then you’ll get the shortcut.
And how can teams prepare for training?
It depends on the course. If it’s the basic Jira course, you don’t need to prepare for anything as it’s for beginners.
However, if it’s Jira administration course, you should have at least taken the Jira Basics course, because otherwise you’re just going to be lost.
So before you even book on an Atlassian training course – check who it’s for!
And I like cameras on. Remote training is fantastic – it makes training accessible to a load more people – but you’ve got to see people’s faces.
It means I can see if someone’s not really getting it, and then I can stop, check everyone’s following, you know. Or make sure someone hasn’t ducked out and is in a completely different room! (Laughs)
Tell us, what Atlassian training course do you love to deliver?
‘Realising the power of Jira reporting and dashboards’.
It’s a common request because, I’ve found over the years, managers love reports. And they like to be able to configure their own reports.
Dashboards is another thing – all that data on one screen, graphs and charts – people like having their own dashboards and configuring it themselves. It allows them to personalise their system, so there’s lot of interest in this area. And don’t forget sharing dashboards, so everyone can see and use the same metrics.
Unlocking those insights is really powerful.
To finish off - no training session is complete without an ice-breaker activity. Over the years you must have seen a lot. Which is your favourite?
The one I like to do is where you pair up your attendees, and then ask them: ‘Find something you guys have in common.’
The one rule is that it can’t be that they work together. And that can be hard! So I really ask people to think about what they might share – could be a travel experience, a shared language, favourite food, karaoke song…
It’s a great way to bring people together and develop that trust and familiarity – which you need when you’re all learning something new!
Now that ice breaker doesn’t sound too hideous. And on that note, we’ll say goodbye for now, Cedric. Thank you for your time.
So, that’s Cedric – our Atlassian-certified trainer. If you feel your team needs some up-skilling, or you’d benefit from additional supporting and training, Cedric and our team are here to guide you through.
