Rock Your Team with Health Check Inspired by Spotify and Powered by Atlassian

Understanding Team Health Checks

Is your team running smoothly, or does it sometimes feel like things are a bit chaotic?  Knowing the true state of your team’s health can be challenging. That’s where Team Health Checks inspired by the model from Spotify come into play. It's a straightforward process that helps teams self-assess their well-being and effectiveness. The goal isn’t to assign grades, but to create a shared understanding of the team’s strengths and challenges.

In this article, we’ll show you how to conduct Team Health Checks using Atlassian’s Confluence and Jira. You’ll learn how to set up a Whiteboard in Confluence and link the results to Jira for action tracking.

Setting Up a Team Health Check Whiteboard in Confluence

To conduct a Team Health Check, start by creating a whiteboard in Confluence. On this whiteboard, add parameters for self-assessment – you can use the Spotify model parameters or choose ones that matter most to your team.

Use sticky notes to create a table listing each parameter. For voting, apply stamps: green for good, yellow for some problems, and red for really bad. Next to each stamp, include an arrow to indicate the trend – is the situation improving or getting worse?

Inviting Your Team to Vote

Now that your whiteboard is ready, it’s time to involve your team in the Health Check. Each person should evaluate the current state of the team by placing their stamps under each parameter. Encourage everyone to be honest and consider their experiences carefully. Team members can also leave comments to provide context or suggest discussion points. To keep the process efficient, use a timer—allocate a set amount of time for voting so the session stays on track.

Discussing Results and Creating Action Items

With all the votes and comments in place, gather your team to discuss each parameter. Encourage team members to explain why they voted as they did or to expand on their comments.

For the areas that need improvement, collaboratively decide on action items to address them. To keep these action items front and centre, you can convert them into Jira tasks directly from the Confluence Whiteboard. This seamless integration ensures that the tasks are assigned, tracked, and incorporated into your team’s workflow.

You can also use Smart Sections of the Whiteboard to automatically create Jira issues based on any stickers moved into these sections. Read more about it here: Take bulk Jira actions with smart sections.

Best Practices and Tips

• Use the Health Check as a conversation starter: Focus on open dialogue rather than the scores themselves to uncover insights and drive meaningful change.
• Regularly Review Action Items: Continuously revisit the action items you’ve created to ensure they are being addressed. Set aside time in team meetings to check on progress and discuss any obstacles.
• Schedule Periodic Re-Assessments: Conduct Health Checks on a regular basis, such as once a quarter. Regular re-assessment helps you track trends over time and respond to changes within the team.
• Customize Categories to Your Team’s Needs: Don’t feel restricted to preset parameters. Modify or add categories that are most relevant to your team’s unique context and challenges.
• Use Trends to Inform Decisions: Pay attention to whether parameters are improving or declining over time. This helps in identifying persistent issues and measuring the impact of interventions.
• Celebrate Improvements and Successes: When the team makes progress, take a moment to cheer!

‍

‍