1) The document describes the journey of the MongooseIM team at Erlang Solutions in developing their instant messaging platform as an unexpected side product. 2) They started with issues around technical complexity and lack of steering, which they addressed through workshops to define a vision and roadmap. 3) The team then applied agile methodologies like Scrum and Kanban along with a focus on customer centricity to transform into a professional product organization and improve based on feedback. 4) A variety of challenges and solutions are presented as part of the team's journey from an unknown start to a current known state, with opportunities for future exploration.