The Takeaway notes from Designathon 2025

I largely emphasized and wrote about what I felt in the whole 02 days of the event

Couple of days back, I was part of a design hackathon and I wanted to document what I felt throughout the journey, rather than how it went.

Well, I was part of the same hackathon of their previous year’s edition too. But this year was different.

Few things that popped in my mind

1. Everything starts with the kind of team you get - This is not something so deep, anything deep takes time, but you get a sense of alignment in energy, I can’t put in exact words but it’s just a sense of initial comfort that surrounds you, it’s so lightweight, more like asking a stranger in bus “when will this stop come”.

2. Shared interests are powerful than solo weightlifting - I realized what went wrong in my previous hackathon after completing this one. - When something happens for 16 - 18 hours straight, it’s so normal to loose momentum in it, everyone will be at their highs in the initial couple of hours, everyone will be actively speaking and trying to figure the problem statement in hand
   
   But momentum goes down when times passes and the ambiguity to clarity ratio is slow
   
   Overtime the energy score is starts going below consistently, The mentality to stay like that a little longer is the differentiator, but here is the catch: it’s not just about you, it won’t matter only if you wish to be like that, everyone more or less should be able to do that, and it’s not as easy as it sounds.
   
   Compared to last time, this time we tried holding on a bit more :)

3. The act of keeping everyone involved is critical - Whenever I’m in a place like this, I consciously try to keep the people present actively involved in it, starting with simple things such as looking in the eye and speaking - to ask their opinion at regular intervals. This keeps the momentum alive, if anyone starts feeling detached, then it’s the beginning of the end.
   
   I make mistakes in my articulation, that slips people out of the conversation but on the process of improvising it whenever I see the chance

4. When to take compromises - Honestly didn’t do this right this time, but again the more I experience it, the better it becomes

5. Being polite and respectful - They are all strangers, they don’t need to adjust to your expectations. I admire people who think this way too.

   I felt genuinely happy with no regrets of any kind when this was over, 50% of this might depend of me but 50% comes from the people you get to surround with, luckily I had good ones
   
   To me, it's never about the end result or the quality of work we could pull off, but the time I spent and the energy I surround myself with matters more to me.
   
   These are not the beginning of long term relationships, it’s so unfair to think in that way.
   
   This is more of a breezy wind that touches me and passes by, with no expectations to return back :)
   
   PS: For the record -

   • We got qualified to top 6 among 15 teams (which I had zero hopes for)

   • Chose a name “Point Blank” for the team - I loved it

   • This is the first time, I didn’t get a drop of sleep and awake for a whole night !!

   • Travelled the previous day itself and stayed in a Zostel (kormangala) and got ashamed of myself for ordering a Tiramisu Jar without knowing it’s made with caffeine - tasted like coffee basically :(