At Diktamen, we talk a lot about simplicity, usability, and workflow efficiency. Last week, those values showed up somewhere unexpected – at a tech subculture event called Disobey.
Our Lead Project Manager, Joonas Karjalainen, attended his first Disobey event and ended up placing 1st in a hardware badge development challenge – not as a full-time developer, but as a project manager who simply wanted to make something intuitive.
And that says a lot about how we build software.
A Weekend of Experimentation
The event challenge involved hacking and customising an ESP32 microcontroller embedded in the event badge. While others focused on Capture the Flag challenges, Joonas pivoted to building something practical.
Using open-source example libraries, a few clever combinations, and Gemini Pro to accelerate iteration, he built a lightweight, user-friendly graphical interface that allowed badge owners to:
- Change badge colour
- Adjust background effects
- Edit their nickname
- Follow clear on-screen instructions
- Store configuration settings directly into device flash memory
If users saved their nickname, the firmware stored all preferences permanently. No resets. No confusion. No friction.
For something built in roughly six hours – by someone who openly says “I’m a project manager, not a developer” – the jury feedback was clear: it stood out because it was intuitive.
And that’s exactly the point.
Why This Matters to Diktamen
What impressed the jury wasn’t just functionality. It was usability.
Joonas later reflected that end-user ergonomics, workflow friction, and intuitive interfaces are always his primary focus when delivering client projects. That mindset is embedded deeply into how we deploy Diktamen for legal and healthcare organisations.
Our clients consistently tell us:
- The system feels familiar
- Adoption is smooth
- Users don’t need heavy retraining
- It fits into existing workflows
- It doesn’t “feel like another IT project”
That thinking doesn’t happen by accident. It’s driven by people who genuinely care about usability at every level.
Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
There’s a common misconception that innovative software must be complex. At Diktamen, we believe the opposite.
Whether it’s:
- Cloud digital dictation
- Speech recognition
- Ambient Voice Technology
- Task management
- AI-assisted documentation
…our philosophy is the same: powerful under the hood, simple on the surface.
The firmware project at Disobey was a micro-example of that approach. Clear controls. Clean interface. Stored settings. Minimal friction.
Build something useful. Make it easy. Remove unnecessary complexity.
That mindset carries directly into how we implement systems for NHS Trusts, GP practices, and law firms across the UK.
The Culture Behind the Product
We don’t always spotlight the tech subculture interests of our team, but moments like this are worth sharing.
Because the same curiosity that drives someone to reverse-engineer an event badge for fun is the curiosity that helps us:
- Solve workflow bottlenecks
- Refine onboarding experiences
- Improve user adoption
- Reduce administrative burden
- Build scalable cloud platforms
Innovation doesn’t only happen in boardrooms. Sometimes it happens at hacker events, over six focused hours, with a microcontroller and a good idea.
And sometimes it results in 1st place – and a reminder of why usability always wins.
A Word from Joonas
“For six hours and somewhat limited coding experience, I’ll give myself a small pat on the back. People seemed to find the firmware quite intuitive – and that’s what matters. End-user ergonomics and workflow pain points are always my primary concern when delivering projects.”
We couldn’t agree more.