What is Atlassian's Low Code strategy

Forge
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I’ve been more than 25 years in the IT industry - mostly with a focus on infrastructure and architecture. So I’m not a SW developer. But I have been - rather successfully - tipping my toes in low code development in the past. Lotus Notes since the 90s is my prototype for a platform that enables me to deliver something of value in this area.
Over the holidays, I’ve been playing with Atlassian Forge. I’ve also been doing some Jira Automation. I’ve also creates a user macro for Confluence Server in the past which can be found here: https://github.com/layer8braincourt/HarveyBallSVG. I also like node red as a tool for low code development because I can get done a lot without all the syntax rich source code of JavaScript but I can also include JavaScript blocks when I need them.

So here are some experiences to feed my question whether and how Atlassian wants to enable non-developers to build their own functionality for Atlassian Cloud in the future:

  • I like the Forge CLI. However, using only occasionally, I always have to fall back to the documentation.
  • I think the Forge documentation is lagging behind the implementation. I couldn’t find a description of all the options for creating a new Forge app.
  • Basing Forge on React / JSX is a bit heavy for me. There are a lot of concepts, I haven’t completely understood yet.
  • Given the complexity of Forge from a non-developer PoV, it is very limited. So far I wasn’t successful recreating my Harvey Balls functionality.
  • The syntax for building Confluence server user macros was maybe the worst I’ve encountererd ever. So good riddance.
  • Jira Automation seens to be more in line with my capabilities. but …
  • I immediately reached the limits of Jira Automation, e.g. the max. number of blocks.
  • The available triggers are limited and Automation is not made for UI enhancements.
  • Automation is only available for Jira - Confluence Automation was announced last year but has slipped since then.

Why did Lotus Notes and node red work for me?

  • The platform does all the declarations for you, as long as you want to.
  • A graphical editor shows how the code works.
  • You provide formulas for UI components for a given event - more or less like creating a formula in a spreadsheet cell.

Here is what I - from my experience - envision:

  • A graphical editor for UI components where I can provide formulas for customizing the behavior of certain elements, e.g. default value or a validation formula
  • A way to create tables in Confluence or Jira based on data in pages or issues
  • A way to specify formulas for columns in Jira filters (results)
  • An improved editor for Atlassian Cloud Automation that replaces Jira Automation and allows for cross-product automation. Node red is a good example for how this can work
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An aside on your Harvey Balls, you could massively simplify them by just using a span and some CSS, like this:

HTML:

<span class="harvey-balls" data-percent="0" ></span>
<span class="harvey-balls" data-percent="25"></span>
<span class="harvey-balls" data-percent="50"></span>
<span class="harvey-balls" data-percent="75"></span>
<span class="harvey-balls" data-percent="100"></span>

CSS:

.harvey-balls {
  width: 0;
  height: 0;
  border-radius: 50%;
  border: 20px solid  hotpink;
  transform: rotate(-45deg);
  display: inline-block;
}

.harvey-balls[data-percent="25"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="50"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="75"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="100"] {
  border-right-color: limegreen;
}

.harvey-balls[data-percent="50"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="75"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="100"] {
  border-bottom-color: limegreen;
}

.harvey-balls[data-percent="75"],
.harvey-balls[data-percent="100"] {
  border-left-color: limegreen;
}

.harvey-balls[data-percent="100"] {
  border-top-color: limegreen;
}

Screenshot 2022-01-18 at 11.28.25

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