Reflecting on Our Journey: The Ifonix Mountain Climber Retrospective 🚀

Two years ago, we embarked on a unique adventure to conquer Sri Pada Mountain, also known as Adam’s Peak, during the off-season. Our chosen path was the Kuruwita Erathna Road, one of the longest and most arduous trails. This route, more of a wilderness track than a defined trail, offered very few resting spots and minimal facilities. Especially in the off-season, it’s a realm frequented only by forest rangers and a few scouts. During this time, one can expect heavy rainstorms and encounters with wild mountain elephants, leopards, and other untamed creatures. It was undeniably a formidable and demanding undertaking.

💪 We were a team of twelve, including my wife, Thishara, who played the role of our naturalist. Tharaka, Nipuna, Sachintha, and Kasun were seasoned hikers and campers, well-prepared with both equipment and knowledge. Our journey commenced at 5 a.m., and we finally reached the summit around 8 p.m. Yes, you read that right; it took us nearly 14 hours to conquer the trail leading to the mountain’s peak. However, despite the numerous obstacles, we all managed to reach the top, relishing the experience, and return home safely.

💥 Throughout the expedition, we encountered various barriers, difficulties, and challenges. Working together, we tackled each issue, finding solutions one by one. Every member of the team focused on the singular dream of conquering one of the world’s most prestigious mountain ranges via its most challenging path.

🔥 After a week, we took some time to reflect on our accomplishments, held discussions, and conducted a thorough reassessment. This led us to formulate two key strategies:

1️⃣ We’re going to re-architect Drawify and plan the development of Drawify 3.0.
2️⃣ We’re also in the process of planning a journey to Everest Base Camp.

🎉 While the second endeavor remains on our bucket list, I’m pleased to share that we’ve recently launched Drawify 3.0. This version comes complete with Maia, an AI-powered infographic story generator.

✨ We have a deep passion for hiking, camping, and immersing ourselves in nature. We understand that the journey isn’t always easy or cushy, but we believe it’s essential for fostering a close-knit team, developing a successful product, and creating a viable MVP for a startup. Let me walk you through how we’ve put our experiences and the wisdom gleaned from experts into action.

🚀 Every Friday, the entire Ifonix team comes together for a retrospective. We reflect on the past week, evaluate our progress, and based on our findings, we chart the course for the upcoming week.

💼 Given that Ifonix is a youthful startup with a compact team, each member wears multiple hats. We need to be precise in our focus and priorities. Our weekly retrospective is a crucial tool in ensuring we have everything in its rightful place. We affectionately refer to it as “The Ifonix Mountain Climber Retrospective.”

🌄 Let’s take a walk through it.

We have the following six elements:

1️⃣ The Task Giver
2️⃣ Boulders
3️⃣ Storms
4️⃣ Seeking Shelter
5️⃣ The Mountain God
6️⃣ The Mountain Ranger

🗺️ The Task Giver: Marks the next destination

The Task Giver plays a crucial role in charting our course. They unroll the map, mark our next destination, offer clear guidance to the climbers, and entrust them with the mission. Just as climbers rely on waypoints, a startup depends on its capable leaders to set the course.

🚀 Tharaka, the Product Owner of Drawify, approached Thinith to take the lead in developing a functionality for searching migrated projects from Drawify version 2 to Drawify version 3.

🪨 Boulders: Overcoming Challenges

As we ascend, we encounter Boulders — obstacles that require resourcefulness and adaptability. In a startup, we face similar challenges. By allowing room for creative problem-solving, our teams can confidently conquer these obstacles, knowing they have support at all times.

👨‍💻 Thinith, a seasoned software engineer at Ifonix, found himself in a more demanding situation due to the tight timeline and the complexity of the project. The unavailability of the Ifonix Peruvian team during Sri Lankan working hours added an extra layer of challenge because he had a couple of clarifications to be cleared from Saul.

⛈️ Storms: Navigating Difficult Situations

Storms are those moments when it feels risky to keep going. This might be due to our inexperience in the situation. But just like a climber seeks shelter, we’ve learned to find support within our team. Together, we weather the storm, emerging stronger and more resilient.

🙇 Saul and Pabilitu from Lima are encountering challenges as they find themselves in the midst of other feature developments. Additionally, Thinith’s extra support is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Saul also identified necessary fixes in the Drawify rendering engine, all while the clock continued to tick.

🏠 Seeking Shelter: Finding Support and Waiting for the Storm to Pass

In a startup, seeking shelter means seeking help and relying on our colleagues. It’s about recognizing when we need assistance and fostering an environment where asking for help is encouraged. This support system has been crucial in helping us weather the most formidable storms.

💪 Tharaka promptly convened a meeting, aiming to include Danny and Umanda. Unfortunately, both of them were swamped with work, especially Danny, who needed to migrate Drawify Composer SDK to address critical native issues within core libraries. Fortunately, Sajee made some discoveries that aided them in their progress, though some still required verification.

🗻 The Mountain God: Lighthouse in the Mountain

An adventurous climber might venture off the beaten path to explore uncharted territories and discover new possibilities. A chance encounter with a Mountain God instills a feeling of safety. In our startup, our Mountain Gods are experienced mentors who have succeeded in taking risks and defying all odds.

👥 The development team sought to discuss certain implementation details with me, specifically concerning the rendering engine and Maia. The discussion was productive, resulting in the team receiving validation and guidance. Subsequently, Thinith and the team successfully implemented the feature.

🌄 The Mountain Ranger: Ensuring Climbers’ Safety

Upon reaching the summit, we plant our flagpole to mark the milestone. As we prepare for the next ascent, a Mountain Ranger gathers feedback from the climbers on their latest hike. These insights are crucial for gearing up and gathering additional resources for the next leg of the journey.

🎯 Thinith successfully completed the task and returned to Tharaka to discuss the entire process, with some adjustment of the workflow ultimately wrapping up the assignment.

🚀 Our journey continues, filled with challenges, victories, and the unwavering spirit of exploration. We’re committed to pushing the boundaries, both in conquering mountains and developing groundbreaking products like Drawify. Stay tuned for more adventures and innovations!

#Ifonix #IfonixMountainClimberRetrospective #Drawify3.0 #StartupJourney #Teamwork #Challenges #Exploration