Luminaries with big ideas get much attention in the press, but aiming solely for big ideas and assembling teams around them doesn’t always pan out. In this talk we’ll cover how we build a balanced culture of innovation that fosters creative teams to deliver great things far better than any one person's ideas alone.

1. #atlassian

2. Stop investing in big ideas
How you can innovate like Apple… sort of
ROSS CHALDECOTT • DESIGN MANAGER • ATLASSIAN • @RCHALDECOTT

4. Balanced creative
teams

5. Creativity

6. 1650 before

7. Genie

8. Genius

9. #1 Eureka

10. Anterior Superior
Temporal Gyrus

11. Alcohol +30%

12. #2 Hard work

13. All great artists and thinkers are great workers
“ NIETZSCHE ”

14. Eighty percent of success is showing up
“ WOODY ALLEN ”

15. #3 Connecting things

16. Creativity is just connecting things
“ STEVE JOBS ”

17. Diverse networks

18. #1 Eureka
#2 Hard work
#3 Connecting things

19. Levels of team work +95%

20. Average team size +20%
each decade

21. Hard problems
Specialised skills
Work together ∴ ∴ ∵

22. Teams

23. BUSINESS
PM
TECHNOLOGY USER
Triads
Engineering Design

24. Hmmm…
“ ROSS CHALDECOTT ”

25. 1945 -1989

26. Nobody creates a Broadway musical by
themselves
BRIAN UZZI ”
“

27. New relationships
=

28. Old relationships
=

29. Mix of relationships
=

31. Cabals

32. We would create our own ideal by combining
the strengths of a cross section of the
company, putting them together in a group
we called the 'Cabal.'
KEN BIRDWELL ”
“

33. Cabals

34. Boom!
“ ROSS CHALDECO”TT

35. Keep things safe

36. Focus on
exploration and
delivery

37. The team isn't
fixed

38. Doing the dirty
work

39. Not everybody
needs to be
involved in
everything

40. Location, location,
location

41. Brainstorming

42. 1948 Your creative power

43. Using the brain to storm a creative problem—
and doing so in commando fashion, with each
stormer attacking the same objective
ALEX OSBORN ”
“

44. Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise
tends to make it bloom while discouragement
often nips it in the bud
ALEX OSBORN ”
“

45. It doesn’t work

46. Debate and criticize +20%

47. Candor

48. Gentle manners +
human kindness

50. Culture

51. Creativity

54. References
• http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131815/
the_cabal_valves_design_process_.php
!
• http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/groupthink?currentPage=all
!
• http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
SB10001424052970203370604577265632205015846
!
• http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius
!
• http://www.creativityincbook.com

55. Thank you!
ROSS CHALDECOTT • DESIGN MANAGER • ATLASSIAN • @RCHALDECOTT