The Atlassian Playbook for Building a Fast-Moving, Outcome-Driven Marketing Team

The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

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#264 Async Work | In this episode, Dave is joined by Ashley Faus, Director of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian, and Dr. Molly Sands, Head of the Teamwork Lab at Atlassian. Ashley brings deep experience in cross-functional B2B marketing leadership, while Molly leads a team of behavioral scientists designing better ways for teams to collaborate. Together, they unpack how Atlassian has rethought marketing org structure, internal comms, and meetings to drive higher output with fewer syncs.

Dave, Ashley, and Molly cover:

The framework Atlassian uses to reduce meetings and communicate asynchronously (including how to structure updates that actually get read)
How to balance transparency with clarity and avoid information overload across Slack, Loom, and Confluence
Tactical ways to structure team rituals, recurring meetings, and brainstorms to focus on output, not performative busywork

You’ll walk away knowing how to run a leaner, more effective marketing team (without drowning in Slack and Zoom).

Timestamps

(00:00) - – Intro
(03:08) - – Why marketers showed up live: too many meetings, too little output
(06:08) - – Meet the guests: Ashley Faus and Dr. Molly Sands from Atlassian
(08:38) - – What “Team Anywhere” means at Atlassian
(10:38) - – The difference between information sharing and real connection
(13:08) - – Why marketing updates often fall flat internally
(15:08) - – How to communicate clearly inside the org (and get your message read)
(18:38) - – Structuring updates: topic, who it’s for, action, context
(21:38) - – When you need a meeting vs. when async works better
(25:38) - – “Sparring” meetings: real-time collaboration between equals
(28:08) - – What actually builds team connection (hint: not team happy hours)
(31:43) - – Async tools Atlassian uses across marketing
(34:13) - – Getting quiet team members to contribute in meetings
(36:43) - – How Atlassian runs recurring team rituals without wasting time
(40:43) - – Cross-functional alignment: structure, scorecards, and shared goals
(43:43) - – Best practices for async tools like Loom and Confluence
(46:43) - – Do brainstorming meetings even work? Here’s when they do.
(49:43) - – What to share with non-marketers (and what to skip)
(52:43) - – Why creating focus is the most underrated leadership skill
(54:43) - – Final takeaways from Ashley and Molly

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