Atlassian Service Team Health Monitor

Check whether your service team is set up to deliver.

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What is the Atlassian Service Team Health Monitor?

This is the Health Monitor variant in Atlassian's Team Playbook for service, support and ops teams, where success means a service people can rely on rather than a shipped project. It covers eight attributes: Team leadership, Balanced team, Service mandate, Service levels, Customer centricity, Tools and processes, Effective partnerships, and Reporting and analytics. Your team votes each attribute red, amber or green, then talks about the reds first. Run it when service quality starts slipping, or every quarter to see whether the reds are turning green.

Dimensions

Eight attributes

The eight attributes of a high-performing service team, scored together as a red/amber/green health monitor.

  • Team leadership

    We have clear, effective leadership for this service team.

    • No clear leadership
    • Some leadership
    • Clear, effective leadership

  • Balanced team

    We have the right people, skills and clearly defined roles to deliver our service.

    • Gaps in skills and roles
    • Mostly balanced
    • Right people and clear roles

  • Service mandate

    The services we offer are defined and documented, with success metrics agreed with our stakeholders.

    • Undefined services
    • Partly defined
    • Defined with agreed metrics

  • Service levels

    Our service levels (SLAs) are defined and visible to the people who rely on us.

    • No agreed SLAs
    • SLAs partly defined
    • Defined and visible SLAs

  • Customer centricity

    We understand our customers, resolve their needs with empathy, and use their feedback to improve.

    • Disconnected from customers
    • Some customer focus
    • Deeply customer-centered

  • Tools and processes

    We have the tools we need, and our processes are documented with clear workflows and owners.

    • Ad hoc tools and processes
    • Partly documented
    • Right tools, clear workflows

  • Effective partnerships

    We know our vendors and partners, with key relationships and agreements documented.

    • Partnerships unclear
    • Some relationships defined
    • Key partnerships documented

  • Reporting and analytics

    We track the right service metrics and use dashboards to drive improvement.

    • Little to no reporting
    • Some metrics tracked
    • Dashboards drive improvement

When to use this health check

  • When you're standing up or scaling a service or support team.
  • As part of a quarterly service-team review.
  • When service quality slips and you need to find where the problem starts.

Tips & tricks

  • A red on Service mandate or Service levels usually explains the problems further down, so fix scope and SLAs first.
  • Vote each attribute red, amber or green, then put your actions on the reds.
  • Re-run it every quarter to see whether your service team is moving toward green.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Service Team Health Monitor?
It's the health check from Atlassian's Team Playbook for service and support teams. It covers eight attributes, from a clear mandate and agreed service levels to tools, partnerships and reporting. The team votes each one red, amber or green and acts on the reds.
How is it different from the project version?
The service version is for teams whose success is a reliable, ongoing service. It replaces project attributes such as a full-time owner and proof of concept with service mandate, service levels (SLAs), customer centricity, and reporting and analytics.
Does it work for support and ops teams?
Yes. Service, support and operations teams are who it was written for.
How do you run a service team health monitor session?
Everyone rates the eight attributes privately as red, amber or green, then the team compares results and picks the one or two reds worth acting on. Run it every quarter so you can see whether the reds are turning amber.
Is this Atlassian's official Health Monitor?
No. Atlassian publishes the Health Monitor plays in its Team Playbook under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. This is TeamRetro's own version of the service team monitor, and TeamRetro isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Atlassian.

Adapted from Atlassian's Team Playbook (Service Team Health Monitor), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. Wording is TeamRetro's own.

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