INSIDE ATLASSIAN: This Is Where They Make The Software That Software Makers Use

Owen Thomas
Atlassian Charlie logo

We recently got a chance to take a look at the San Francisco office of Atlassian, a company whose software helps programmer write software.

It just named Doug Burgum, the founder of Great Plains Software, and its chairman. cofounder Mike Cannon-Brooke, was in town from Sydney. Cannon-Brookes and Atlassian president Jay Simons showed me around the office, which occupies a huge warehouse in San Francisco’s SoMa district.

Teams here work on products like HipChat and Jira. It’s the second-largest office after Atlassian headquarters in Sydney. Atlassian also has offices in the Netherlands, Poland, Malaysia, and Brazil.

Here's the entrance, which faces Harrison Street across from the freeway.

While you're waiting, you can leaf through photos of Atlassian's holiday party.

The office is on two levels. It currently houses 140, but can fit another 40 or so.

In the big open court, there's lots of casual seating—chairs and beanbags.

The risers accommodate all-hands meetings. Communication is important for a company that's distributed around the world.

Atlassian acquired HipChat, an online collaboration tool, and kept the team intact. They have a corner on the second floor.

He's kidding, of course, but if he weren't, employees could always escape to this lounge.

A bubble-chair swing. You've got one at home, right?

Twin massage chairs.

Most of the conference rooms have glass walls. Cannon-Brookes tells me they realised they needed to have a private space for board meetings, so they retrofitted this room for the purpose.

Here's a reason why startups love warehouse spaces: lots of light.

Like some of our colleagues at Business Insider, Atlassian president Jay Simons works at a standing desk.

Here's a kitchen.

Internet memes enforce cleanliness.

Jay Simons shows off a beer-delivery trike. New employees must wheel it around to deliver suds.

Biking to work is really popular. There's a large bike room.

Here's the lunchroom and play area, featuring a ping-pong table.

Cornhole, a bag-tossing game, is popular in San Francisco. A local company manufactured this board.

Mary, a technical writer at Atlassian, gives her dog, Moxie, a snack. There are eight dogs who regularly come to work at Atlassian.

The back of the office faces a park. That's convenient for dog walks and basketball games.

So that's where Atlassian's San Francisco-based coders hang out ...

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