Inside My Team ’25 Braindate: A Hack for Endless Whiteboard Inspiration

[#1]

Ready to level up your Confluence Whiteboard game? While the built-in templates are impressive, sometimes you need a little extra spark. At last week’s Team ’25, I hosted a Braindate where we swapped ideas on custom whiteboard templates—and explored how to use Atlassian Intelligence to turn team collaboration into real momentum.

Whether you're designing from scratch or remixing what’s out there, here’s a roundup of inspiration and go-to templates to supercharge your next session.

Where to Find Inspiration

1. Explore Built-In Libraries: Popular tools like Miro, Lucidspark, and FigJam offer extensive template libraries for everything from brainstorming to agile planning. These are great starting points you can adapt for Confluence Whiteboards.

2. Tap into Educator Resources: K–12 educators have created dedicated online hubs full of visual templates and graphic organizers designed to foster critical thinking. These are easy to re-create in Confluence using shapes, connectors, and stickers.

3. Don’t Overlook Google Jamboard’s Legacy: When Google released Jamboard, it inspired a wave of shared whiteboard templates—many still searchable and usable today. These community-driven ideas are perfect for lightweight collaboration sessions.

Helpful Search Terms:

• Design thinking whiteboard template

• Visual thinking classroom template

• Collaborative learning graphic organizer

Tip: Think of these templates as creative jumpstarts—not constraints. Most can be adapted directly into Confluence Whiteboards with minimal setup.

Go to Whiteboard

Template Name	What It Is	How to Use It	Why It Works	Example
Idea Mind Map	A central-topic brainstorming tool that visually branches out main ideas.	Start with the main question or theme, then build branches with related ideas, examples, and alternatives.	Helps teams quickly organize and expand ideas in a structured way, revealing opportunities and connections.
Wireframe Review	A mobile app wireframe walkthrough for UX/UI feedback.	Add wireframes to the flow, then use sticky notes and connectors to capture comments and navigation logic.	Aligns design with function by surfacing gaps and gathering input from non-designers in a visual way.
Cause & Effect Map	A visual breakdown of root causes leading to a specific outcome.	Identify a goal or outcome, then map out contributing causes and relevant background information in branches.	Encourages proactive thinking and systems analysis, revealing what’s influencing outcomes.
Double Bubble Map	A comparison tool to analyze similarities and differences between two ideas.	Place the two ideas in the center, then connect shared traits in the middle and unique traits on the outer edges.	Promotes critical thinking by clarifying both overlap and differentiation between concepts.
Team Alignment Map	A visual alignment tool to clarify team goals, roles, concerns, and resources.	Break the map into four quadrants: Goals, Roles, Challenges, and Needs. Have each team member add their input.	Surfaces misalignments early and creates a shared understanding of objectives and responsibilities.
Emotion Wheel	A tool for emotional check-ins and discussions.	Invite team members to select and place stamp on the emotion(s) they’re feeling. Use a sticky note for reflection or 1:1s.	Builds psychological safety, improves communication, and supports emotional intelligence in teams.
AWS 2-Tier Architecture	A system diagram for visualizing frontend/backend services and infrastructure.	Use stickers to label services (e.g., EC2, RDS, Load Balancer). Connect them using arrows and group zones with shapes.	Helps non-technical stakeholders grasp infrastructure design, while enabling tech teams to align and iterate quickly.

[Lucy Nersesian]

Can you import Miro and Figjam files into Confluence Whiteboards?!

[Steph Sjostrom]

When will grouping objects be added to whiteboards? It was raised in 2023 but haven't seen a release date yet. This is a blocker for us to switch from Miro.

[James Rickards (Spark-Nel)]

I'd also like to see some templates to support these popular 22 retrospectives. https://www.parabol.co/resources/sprint-retrospective-ideas/