For a long time, I wanted to build something in public—to share the process, the challenges, and the little wins along the way. The idea of putting something out there, seeing people use it, and iterating based on real feedback felt exciting.

Right before Christmas, I finally decided to give it a shot. I was hugely inspired by the #BuiltInPublic movement on Threads, especially by creators like PG Gonni (sekeidesign), who is building a Kanji learning app. Seeing them share their journey, struggles, and solutions made me realize: I just need to start.

For weeks, I kept asking myself: What should I build? I wanted something small and simple, yet useful—something I could personally use every day. That’s when it clicked:

💡 Why not bring Hill Charts into Figma?

I love the Hill Charts concept (originally pioneered by Basecamp) because it provides a realistic view of project progress—not just a list of checked-off tasks. Design work isn’t linear, and I wanted a way to visualize that inside Figma.

So, I sketched the first rough idea on a piece of paper and started experimenting.

Of course, not everything worked right from the start.

One of the first roadblocks: I initially wanted drag-and-drop functionality to move tasks on the hill. But Figma’s widget system didn’t support that—you’d end up dragging the entire widget instead of the task dots. That was frustrating.

To solve this, I had to design around the constraint and rethink interactions. Eventually, I landed on a click-based movement system, which actually turned out to be more precise and easier to use.

Another challenge was making sure tasks:

Balancing simplicity and depth was key—I wanted zero friction for new users, but also enough flexibility for those who dive deeper.

Now that Fighill is live, I’m excited to see how people use it! If you have ideas for features or improvements, let me know—I’d love to keep iterating based on feedback.

This was a fun project, and I’ve definitely caught the build-in-public bug. What should I build next? 🤔

Try out Fighill in Figma, and let’s make progress visible.