Jewel is a journaling tool that prompts you to keep a log book of your work. It uses AI to summarize your progress and suggests areas for improvement. I ideated, designed and led a team of amazing people to build this tool during Co.Labs’ 2024 hackathon.
As a young professional, I’ve often noticed that many of us—especially those starting out in tech—struggle with imposter syndrome. With so many moving parts, it’s easy to lose track of daily tasks, achievements, and progress until a manager points them out.
Journaling has been a transformative practice for me, offering clarity and insight into my personal life. Jewel was born out of my desire to bring that same clarity to the workplace, helping individuals track their work, reflect, and build confidence when starting a new job, project, or business.
As I mentioned earlier, my first attempt to build Jewel was during a hackathon. Given the potential for the product to become robust and the limited time frame of the event, I developed a simple user flow and a product document to focus our efforts.
The hackathon emphasized novelty and how much we could build within a short period. I believed that a well-crafted user flow journey would give my team an edge by effectively telling the story of the tool’s value.
During the hackathon, we encountered challenges with our AI feature. Authentication issues prevented the feedback functionality from working as intended, and we didn’t have enough time to resolve them.
Although we didn’t win, I thoroughly enjoyed the competitive environment of the hackathon and the seamless collaboration with the incredible team (Jonathan, Austin, Karar and Ben) that helped build Jewel.
I also appreciated my ability to quickly problem-solve and devise the best way to present our summary delivery for final judgment when we encountered issues with authentication and receiving journal entry feedback.
Moving forward, I plan to refine Jewel’s user flow to function as a tool that helps me gain clarity in new jobs or projects by providing valuable feedback, and share with friends that might find it helpful.
