How to make space for AI experimentation on your team
When introducing AI, businesses often focus solely on speed and efficiency, overlooking the most critical element—making time to experiment with AI. As a Global Platinum Solution Partner of Atlassian, DragonSoft provides an in-depth analysis of Atlassian’s latest behavioral science research: Why do traditional AI training programs often fall short? How do teams that gain the most from AI truly integrate AI exploration into their daily collaboration? This article offers five actionable best practices to help your team unlock the full potential of AI and achieve a leap forward in development and collaboration efficiency.
The most underrated team productivity hack? AI playtime.
We all want AI to make us more productive. But here’s the twist: the teams getting the most return from their AI investments aren’t the ones moving the fastest. They’re the ones making time to experiment with AI, share their aha! moments, and collaborate with their tools to work smarter together.
Atlassian research shows that teams who experiment freely don’t lose time – they actually gain it. In fact, hands-on learning with AI can buy back hours in your week, spark more creativity, and lead to more innovative solutions.
Forget rigid training programs. The future belongs to teams who learn by doing – where AI experimentation is part of the everyday, not an afterthought.
“Dragging and dropping AI onto an existing workflow can make things a bit more efficient. But making space to experiment with AI is the best way to unlock its full potential – because being playful leads to unexpected discoveries and creative solutions that wouldn’t always emerge from day-to-day work.”
Ben Ostrowski, Atlassian Lead Behavioral Scientist (AI)
Here’s how to make that happen:
1.Lead by example – and share your screen!
Managers are a big unlock for team AI adoption. When leaders (literally!) share their screen and demo how they’re using AI in real time, teams are four times more likely to experiment themselves.
Tip: Leaders, don’t just talk about AI – show your process, your prompts, and even your mistakes. The more visible your learning, the safer it feels for everyone to try.
2.Make AI play a team sport
Collaboration is where AI experimentation really takes off. When teams set aside time to collaborate with AI and build small communities to experiment together, they surface more creative use cases and build collective knowledge.
Tip: Host regular “AI jam sessions” where teammates can demo experiments, swap prompts, and troubleshoot together. Create smaller communities (for example, on Slack) where people can ask questions and share.
3.Replace training sessions with hands-on experiments
Forget rigid, top-down training. Teamwork Lab research shows that hands-on learning and low-stakes challenges (think: mini hackathons) build true AI fluency. Our research shows formal training courses (69%) and self-serve knowledge hubs (57%) are two of the most popular AI offerings in organizations, yet are among the least effective ways to drive human-AI collaboration. Experimentation buys back hours in the long run and sparks those aha! moments that formal instruction can’t.
Tip: Challenge your team to solve a real problem using AI. Debrief and encourage everyone to share their process, not just the outcome.
4.Track what works (and what doesn’t)
Experimentation is only valuable if you learn from it. Treat every AI experiment as a data point, logging wins, misses, and surprises. This builds a culture of continuous improvement and helps surface the most impactful use cases.
Tip: Create a shared document or small Slack community channel to log AI experiments, results, and lessons learned. Over time, this becomes your team’s “AI playbook” – a living resource for what actually moves the needle.
5.Reward curiosity, not just output
The best teams don’t just celebrate results – they celebrate learning. When you reward curiosity, you make it safe to try, fail, share what you discover, and iterate. Teams with psychological safety are more likely to experiment and turn flops into future wins.
Tip: Shout out creative experiments in team meetings, highlight lessons learned, and make curiosity a core value.
The smartest investment your team can make
Making space for AI experimentation isn’t a luxury – it truly is the smartest investment your team can make. When you lead by example, experiment together, create communities, and celebrate learning, you unlock AI’s true potential: more creativity, more innovation, and a significantly higher ROI.
Ready to bring leading AI collaboration practices to your team?
As a Global Platinum Partner of Atlassian, DragonSoft is committed to helping businesses deeply integrate agile principles, DevOps best practices, and cutting-edge AI technologies (such as Atlassian Rovo). We not only provide tool implementation but also offer in-depth consulting and performance enhancement services.
Get in touch with DragonSoft’s Atlassian-certified expert team today to explore how to leverage Atlassian solutions and AI technologies to tailor next-generation intelligent collaboration workflows for your team!
Visit our website: https://hkdsdtech.com/atlassian/solution
Tel: +852-51679050
Email: customer@hkdsdtech.com
