Exploring Technology and Teamwork in Formula One with Atlassian and Williams Racing – Atlassian Team ’25 NA

This is Textron tv. We are back at Atlassian, team 25 in Anaheim, California. I'm John Swartz with, uh, Techron Group, and I'm with Andrew Boi, who is a DevOps evangelist at Atlassian.

And we're gonna talk about Williams racing, um, which I'm very curious about because I've been to Formula One races and PR at Practice Laps. I find the whole thing, the technology use incredible, uh, on a global scale and, and the sophistication of what goes on. So you actually, you know what, I was watching a race, I think the most recent race was a couple of days ago.

Was it in Japan? I wanna say? Yeah.

And there was the head, the engineering, um, driver, the, the, the assistant to the driver who talks directly to him and a headset. The headset said Atlassian on it. Yeah.

And I could make out what they were talking about. I'm wondering if you can explain what they, what that was. I think it, was it the system of work that they were using?

Um, or what was it? Um, so you mean on the headphones between the driver and the, and the guy. Right.

It it was kind of a muffled, but they were having a conversation in, in, in any event. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's, it's really interesting. Uh, I've been lucky enough to work pretty closely with Williams over the last, uh, Atlassian Williams racing over the last couple of months. Um, and that garage technology you're talking about is a really nice highlight of how, uh, there's a lot of collaboration involved in Formula One racing, actually.

So obviously the, the messages are coming from the driver to the pit wall, and a lot of people are familiar with that, uh, after watching Formula One. 'cause you hear that in the covering. Yes.

Um, but what you don't hear on TV is all the messages that are going through those headphones in addition to the pit crew. And there's around 80 people who travel. Yes.

Um, to each race. There's actually a, a whole group of people around 30 sitting in Williams headquarters in Grove in the uk. And, uh, they are constantly in communication with the people, uh, who are Trackside.

Um, so they do, so if you think about it this way, every time the car goes around the track, there's terabytes of data being generated. Now at the track, there's limited ability. Obviously there's a lot of things going on to analyze that data and to understand what's going on.

But in Grove there's a team of data scientists there who are going through the data and understanding what's happening at a deeper level. So some of the messages you might hear is the driver will say, oh, the cars off balance, or something funny is happening in corner three, or whatever it is. Um, and so those team analysts are able to correlate what the driver's saying with the data that's coming out of the car.

They can then collaborate with the, the team who are at the race to say, here are the changes that need to happen to the car on the next pit. So, uh, super interesting how much collaboration happens with remote teams and those who are actually at the tri. So years ago, I was lucky enough to cover an F1 race, the first F1 race in Austin, and the Ferrari team led me into their, um, their pit crew.

And it was like, it literally, it was like a data center. It was incredible. But what what struck me was more interesting than anything was not who was there, but who wasn't and who they were communicating with.

And invariably it was someone back in England. Yeah. Um, I'm not sure if that applies to all the teams, but several teams were doing that, and they had a, uh, literally they were assessing all the information from multiple sensors from every part of the car, as you said, lap by lap.

Um, what, what I was gonna ask you kind of in, in that vein, what specific challenges is Williams racing facing in terms of collaboration and how are you addressing those issues for them? Yeah, I mean, the, the, uh, the challenges that at Atlassian Williams racing are very similar to other organizations. And there's three ways that I think that we're gonna be able to help them and support them through, uh, the transformation that they openly talk about, um, you know, in the public.

And the first one is around team level prioritization. So like many companies, they set, they set goals at the organization level, and it's really about at the team level then how do you make sure that all of the work that you're doing ladders up to an outcome that the company is looking to achieve. Mm-hmm.

So the first thing we're gonna do is really help, uh, you know, embed those team level goals and make them visible and how they ladder up. The second one is around sharing information inside Atlassian Williams racing. Um, so if you think about every year, they're building pretty much a whole new car from scratch.

I Was just gonna ask you. You're right, right, Right. And so there's a lot of design information.

There's a lot of, um, the aerodynamics do a lot of testing and a lot of modeling. So a lot of data and a lot of documentation is actually generated through people who have very different crafts. So you think about an aerodynamics to a parts manufacturing process to race engineer, they're very different crafts, but it's helpful for them to be able to see each other's documentation and share information.

So the second thing we're gonna do is help them unlock that information and help share things more broadly within internally. And the third thing that a lot of people think, when we talk about software development, everyone says, how's the, how is the software development software for the car? And, um, yes, there is some of that, but a lot of the software development is, uh, applications that they develop to help in the, uh, manufacturing and the production of the car.

And so, um, the, the FIA has a spend cap for every Formula One team. And that spend cap includes software development. So, um, And it applies, the same cap applies to every Yep.

Every team. So it's controlled. So, so no one has a huge advantage over or the others.

That's right. And in a sense, it's really interesting when you talk about cars right there, there is like a redesign. It's almost almost like working with a startup every, the same company, but it's a different company.

Yeah. To a certain extent every year. Yeah.

Right. And so, like the third thing is we're gonna help them deliver high quality software at speed, because that's a competitive advantage. If you are able to develop higher quality software faster, faster than the other Formula One teams, then that's an advantage because every dollar you do not spend doing that.

You can spend doing something else for the car. Wait, in terms of innovation of a car, these are such sensitive machines. Is there, is there a certain part of the car where you can gain a, is there like a certain, this is kind of a dumb question, but it's like, I always, my, my dad was an engineer and he always talked about the tire technology, the tires, especially the rear tires.

Is there like a certain part of the car or part of the aerodynamics that is where you can gain an edge over others? Like is everyone trying to, to, to, to gain a competitive advantage from a certain part of the car? Or is it Just applied?

It's the aerodynamics and I'm still learning as well. I'll share with you what I've learned. Yeah.

Since I've been spending time with them. Um, it's the aerodynamics. So the more downforce the car has, the faster it goes, essentially is the simplified version that, um, that resonates with me.

And so when you think about the software, the software is around, uh, designing parts and assessing the downfalls changes depending on, uh, different iterations that the team are going through. So the higher quality software that they're able to produce, the more, um, closer reality, the more realistic they're able to get with their, uh, projections about the changes that different parts will make. And so in, uh, in a way, the, the better you get at software delivery, the faster the car will get is, uh, is like both ends of the equation.

So in, in what ways is AI being leveraged to maximize, maximize, uh, the impact and accelerated the innovation at Williams Racing? Yeah, I think it's, uh, it's about the potential for AI really. Um, and you, if you, like I said earlier, their challenges are similar to most companies that I, uh, that I do work with.

And so around, just around the knowledge, unlocking that knowledge and being able to search and find information. Um, for example, if you use Robo, which is a part of the Atlassian search platform, it just to search for information, it won't only just give you, so if I'm searching for a document, it won't only just give me the document. If I use natural language, it'll give me the answer and it'll give me all the sources for that information as well.

Um, so that's, that's a great use for ai. But as, as well, like, um, they generate a lot of data to the car, and I think there's a lot of opportunity there, uh, to use ai. How long your, has been your partnership, how many years have you been a partner with Williams Racing?

We Just announced it in Oh, So now Okay. In, so that's new. All right.

Okay. And have you worked, have you worked with, uh, any other Formula One racing team before? Not Formula One, but we do, we do a lot with the automotive industry in general.

Okay. Um, but Formula One is new. Alright.

Um, How about, sorry. But I will say 80% of the other Formula One cars, uh, formula One teams do use Atlassian software, but we have not gone to this. But you don't have a corporate spon.

You don't have a sponsorship with them. So the, you said 80? About 80%, yeah.

Uses some, some part of your technology? Yes. Wow.

That's a pretty high number. Yeah. I'm trying to think of anyone who kind of rivals that.

We have pretty good software. Yeah. I I that's what I've heard.

Yeah, I heard that here on the show. Um, how do you plan or how does Atlassian plan to evolve its partnership with Williams Racing in the future to enhance collaboration and performance? Yeah, I mean, like, so we're partnering pretty closely with them.

Um, we don't consider it a, a sponsorship, actually. We consider it a partnership. A partnership because it's not just us putting our logo on the car.

Uh, for example, I spent a few weeks ago, I spent a whole week there with a team. We did a deep dive into developer experience. We worked through, you know, where do we want things to go, how things, um, how things can go in the future.

And, um, we're gonna progress that over the next few years as we embed our system of work. Yeah. Uh, over there, Do you have, do you have, uh, partnership with other sport sporting, uh, teams?

We do not organizations. No. So we, we looked at a, at a range of options, actually as Okay.

Through this process. And Can you tell me some of the other sports you looked at into, or, Um, I think the important thing is that Okay. Why we picked Formula One.

Okay. And, uh, the reason why we picked Formula One is it's got a massive audience. Yes.

Um, and that's growing pretty rapidly as Well. It's the most technologically advanced sport, I think. Yeah.

By, And it's a really, it's a really nice, uh, intersection of teamwork and technology. Um, so there's, there's that aspect. Obviously we're, um, targeting enterprise companies a lot more.

Yeah. And a large percentage of CIOs and CTOs and CEOs at, um, enterprise companies are fans of Formula One. It also allows us to take our technology and display around the world where our customers are.

Um, You know, it's, it's, it's amazing. I guess it's like a Super Bowl every couple of weeks. Literally.

It literally, yeah. Like they have teams I think hopscotching one another across the globe. It's an amazing, uh, thing to be a part of, I think is incredibly exciting.

And it's a great exposure, but it's also, you know, a good way, it's an ultimate case study or customer Yeah. Study to, to prove to the world how well your technology works. Absolutely.

And like for us, when we're assessing, you know, what, what we're gonna move forward with, we feel, and, and Atlassian Williams Racing feels that we can really help them on their transformation that they're undertaking. Um, so we're going pretty deep with them to, uh, to help them Awesome. Improve in the areas they want to improve in.

Hey, well it sounds like a winning formula, so to speak. Uh, thanks for being with us. Um, appreciate it.

Uh, I appreciate it, Andrew. Uh, that's it. Uh, we're gonna call it a wrap today at Atlassian, team 25.

We'll be back tomorrow with more videos and more interviews. And, uh, we'll see you then.