Atlassian sticks to its guns as customers slam software update
Trello is a software tool that uses digital post-it notes and whiteboards for teams to keep track of the projects they are working on. Atlassian acquired the company in 2017 for $US425 million and, at the beginning of the year, said it was planning a major revamp of the platform.
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The Advertiser
14 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Global Aussie company defends 150 job cuts as Australia urged to embrace AI
The former chief executive of software giant Atlassian has defended the company's decision to fire 150 workers, urging Australia to embrace AI technology. Staff at the Australian-American tech company reportedly learnt that their jobs were axed via a prerecorded video from chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Scott Farquhar, who stepped down as joint chief executive of Atlassian in September 2024, defended the move while speaking at the National Press Club on July 30. "We just can't dig our heels in and say the jobs of today will be the jobs in 20 years," Mr Farquhar said. "Some parts of our economy will grow significantly as AI makes them more productive, and some parts of our economy will shrink as we do that," he said. The Australian billionaire said he felt "privileged and blessed" to live in a country with a strong social safety net. He said Australians had "very strong skilling opportunities" that allowed job seekers to retrain in new areas. "I also think that if we say the burden of retraining sits on the companies that are making those changes, that can put us at a comparative disadvantage to other places in the world," he said. "We're always changing the number of people we have at Atlassian on a regular basis, and so there'll always be jobs we're adding." It comes less than a fortnight after contributing writer Kelli Mara Korducki published an article on Atlassian's Work Life, warning companies against replacing staff with AI. "Leaders should approach AI as a tool to support teams, not a mechanism to replace team members," the article said. "Think about it: You wouldn't expect a hammer to do the job of a carpenter. The same logic applies to transformative tech." Atlassian was contacted for comment. The former chief executive of software giant Atlassian has defended the company's decision to fire 150 workers, urging Australia to embrace AI technology. Staff at the Australian-American tech company reportedly learnt that their jobs were axed via a prerecorded video from chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Scott Farquhar, who stepped down as joint chief executive of Atlassian in September 2024, defended the move while speaking at the National Press Club on July 30. "We just can't dig our heels in and say the jobs of today will be the jobs in 20 years," Mr Farquhar said. "Some parts of our economy will grow significantly as AI makes them more productive, and some parts of our economy will shrink as we do that," he said. The Australian billionaire said he felt "privileged and blessed" to live in a country with a strong social safety net. He said Australians had "very strong skilling opportunities" that allowed job seekers to retrain in new areas. "I also think that if we say the burden of retraining sits on the companies that are making those changes, that can put us at a comparative disadvantage to other places in the world," he said. "We're always changing the number of people we have at Atlassian on a regular basis, and so there'll always be jobs we're adding." It comes less than a fortnight after contributing writer Kelli Mara Korducki published an article on Atlassian's Work Life, warning companies against replacing staff with AI. "Leaders should approach AI as a tool to support teams, not a mechanism to replace team members," the article said. "Think about it: You wouldn't expect a hammer to do the job of a carpenter. The same logic applies to transformative tech." Atlassian was contacted for comment. The former chief executive of software giant Atlassian has defended the company's decision to fire 150 workers, urging Australia to embrace AI technology. Staff at the Australian-American tech company reportedly learnt that their jobs were axed via a prerecorded video from chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Scott Farquhar, who stepped down as joint chief executive of Atlassian in September 2024, defended the move while speaking at the National Press Club on July 30. "We just can't dig our heels in and say the jobs of today will be the jobs in 20 years," Mr Farquhar said. "Some parts of our economy will grow significantly as AI makes them more productive, and some parts of our economy will shrink as we do that," he said. The Australian billionaire said he felt "privileged and blessed" to live in a country with a strong social safety net. He said Australians had "very strong skilling opportunities" that allowed job seekers to retrain in new areas. "I also think that if we say the burden of retraining sits on the companies that are making those changes, that can put us at a comparative disadvantage to other places in the world," he said. "We're always changing the number of people we have at Atlassian on a regular basis, and so there'll always be jobs we're adding." It comes less than a fortnight after contributing writer Kelli Mara Korducki published an article on Atlassian's Work Life, warning companies against replacing staff with AI. "Leaders should approach AI as a tool to support teams, not a mechanism to replace team members," the article said. "Think about it: You wouldn't expect a hammer to do the job of a carpenter. The same logic applies to transformative tech." Atlassian was contacted for comment. The former chief executive of software giant Atlassian has defended the company's decision to fire 150 workers, urging Australia to embrace AI technology. Staff at the Australian-American tech company reportedly learnt that their jobs were axed via a prerecorded video from chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Scott Farquhar, who stepped down as joint chief executive of Atlassian in September 2024, defended the move while speaking at the National Press Club on July 30. "We just can't dig our heels in and say the jobs of today will be the jobs in 20 years," Mr Farquhar said. "Some parts of our economy will grow significantly as AI makes them more productive, and some parts of our economy will shrink as we do that," he said. The Australian billionaire said he felt "privileged and blessed" to live in a country with a strong social safety net. He said Australians had "very strong skilling opportunities" that allowed job seekers to retrain in new areas. "I also think that if we say the burden of retraining sits on the companies that are making those changes, that can put us at a comparative disadvantage to other places in the world," he said. "We're always changing the number of people we have at Atlassian on a regular basis, and so there'll always be jobs we're adding." It comes less than a fortnight after contributing writer Kelli Mara Korducki published an article on Atlassian's Work Life, warning companies against replacing staff with AI. "Leaders should approach AI as a tool to support teams, not a mechanism to replace team members," the article said. "Think about it: You wouldn't expect a hammer to do the job of a carpenter. The same logic applies to transformative tech." Atlassian was contacted for comment.
The Australian
14 hours ago
- The Australian
Atlassian axes 150 jobs, replaces workers over video
An Australian tech company has brutally axed 150 jobs in an early morning recorded video. Atlassian has announced it was cutting 150 jobs in the prerecorded video from billionaire chief executive and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. In a video titled 'Restructuring the CSS Team: A Difficult Decision for Our Future', Mr Cannon-Brookes didn't officially announce who was leaving but instead made staff wait 15 minutes to receive an email about their future employment. In a prerecorded video, Mike Cannon-Brookes informed workers they were going to lose their jobs. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman Impacted staff members had their laptops immediately blocked. Staff who have lost their jobs are expected to receive six months pay. These roles were removed as Atlassian improves its cloud platform and tools, resulting in a significant reduction in support needs for customers. Future queries will, in part, use AI to more efficiently route work to the right expert. When asked about it at the National Press Club, co-founder Scott Farquhar said there would be job changes across the industry as a result of AI. 'Some jobs become more productive any less of them as some jobs become more productive any more of them,' he said. 'In these times or any time we should be helping our employees to make the transition bracket at company level but also at a national level.' While one of Atlassian's co-founders was axing roles, the other appeared on ABC Breakfast spruiking the benefits of AI, encouraging corporates and the government to embrace it as quickly as possible. Mr Farquhar said: 'AI is going to change Australia. 'Firstly, most people don't think about where their water or power comes from and people don't think about where AI comes from or where the AI they use on their phone comes from every day,' he told the ABC. 'There is a huge boom in creating data centres for the region and, beyond that, there is a huge boom in using AI for everyday life.' Former Atlassian chief executive Scott Farquhar and Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes are embracing AI. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman Mr Farquhar went on to tell the audience that every company should be embracing AI. 'Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can,' he said. 'Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every business person, every business leader, every government leader and every bureaucrat should be using it.' He also called for governments to more broadly use AI to deliver basic services. Back in April 2024, Mr Farquhar announced his resignation as joint chief executive of Atlassian before officially stepping down in September 2024. He said the reason behind the sudden culling of 150 roles was due to a situation in which Atlassian's customer service team became a victim of the business's broader success. Larger clients had moved to the cloud, reducing the volume of complex support tasks required at Atlassian. Future issues would be treated in part with AI.
West Australian
16 hours ago
- West Australian
Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar urges Australia to embrace AI as firm strips 150 jobs
One of Australia's first tech billionaires has called for the nation to become the data centre capital of the Asia-Pacific in the global artificial intelligence race, just hours after the software firm he helped found sacked 150 employees to replace them with AI. Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar said individuals, companies and countries needed to embrace AI or risk falling behind, linking the technology as key to lifting lagging productivity. He envisaged Australia hosting 'digital embassies' where foreign nations could store their sensitive government data on our soil — but under their own foreign laws. 'Why host your foreign data in any other country when you could host it in Australia with cheaper power, faster build times under the laws of your own country,' he suggested, in a speech to the National Press Club. 'We could be the provider of choice for every government in the region and for every business that needs a Southeast Asian data centre.' Mr Farquhar's tech push on Wednesday came after Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon Brookes told employees they were being replaced with artificial intelligence. When asked about the sackings Mr Farquhar —who stepped down as joint-chief executive of Atlassian in September but remains on the board — said job changes as a result of increased AI uptake across the sector was natural and shake ups at Atlassian occurred on a 'regular basis'. Mr Cannon-Brookes told the discarded workers in a video message rather than face-to-face just hours before attending the address to support Mr Farquhar. During his address Mr Farquhar, who is chair of the Tech Council, said Australia has significant advantages for AI development — including abundant land and energy potential, a strong legal system and strategic location. However, he brushed aside security concerns over Australia collaborating with China on AI, saying he wasn't a national security expert and that the issue was more complex. 'I'm not an expert on national security. I do believe that those things are very nuanced conversations. I think it's clear that our highest security partner is the United States, and our largest trading partner is China,' Mr Farquhar said He said the Australian government and tech firms should collaborate in embracing AI technologies, to progress the speed of technology rather than bureaucracy. Adding that if Australian businesses 'simply adopted existing AI tools, we'd see a major productivity lift'. 'Research, by the Tech Council that I'm chair of, shows this could add up to $115 billion a year, in addition to our economy by 2030,' he said. He called on unions to help support workers who lose their jobs through AI take up, by supporting new six to four month 'tech trade digital apprenticeships'. He described them as short, practical qualifications to get people ready for high demand industries like data centre construction and battery installation, adding they could be stepping stone modulus to full trades. Mr Farquhar also flagged copyright law reform as a key area for the Government to tackle. 'We need to make changes to our copyright laws. Australia's copyright laws are out of sync with the rest of the world,' he said. 'While the USA and Europe have exemptions for fair use, for text and data mining, and the Australian Law Commission in 2014 recommended changes, and Australian Productivity Commission in 2016 recommended changes. 'We remain an outlier when it comes to copyright. He called on the Attorney General Michelle Rowland to 'urgently amend' the Copyright Act to 'look at fair use and text and data mining exceptions'. He said changing the Act could unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment in Australia. 'This is a barrier to AI companies who want to train or host their models in Australia, and this is even a barrier to Australian born companies who want to build our models here.' In April last year, Mr Farquhar had announced his resignation as joint chief executive of Atlassian before officially stepping down in September 2024.
