Field notes from real product work.
The decisions, failure modes, and frameworks behind the hardware and embedded programs we take from prototype to production. Written for CTOs, technical founders, and teams that ship.
Long-form, canonical pieces. Read these if you want the full position.
Embedded Systems Development: A Systems Discipline
Embedded systems development is a system architecture discipline, not a firmware-writing one. How the layers fit together, and why most teams get the boundary wrong.
ReadWhy Hardware MVPs Fail (And What to Build Instead)
Most hardware MVPs fail because they are designed as demos, not products. A sharper definition of MVP for hardware, and what to actually validate first.
ReadThe Hardware Product Development Process, Reframed
Hardware product development is a decision sequence, not a phase chart. The actual gates, the actual failure modes, and what should be decided at each one.
ReadHow to Launch a Hardware Product
"Launch" is the day your first manufactured unit reaches a paying customer. Everything before that has to be right. The commitments that must hold by launch day.
ReadTighter, pain-point focused. Each one attacks a single decision or failure mode.
Ad-hoc CTO for Hardware: When to Bring One In
When external senior product engineering leadership pays for itself, what it should own, and how to structure the engagement so it actually works.
ReadChoosing a Contract Manufacturer (From the Inside)
What the CM shortlist actually looks like, what to negotiate before the quote, and the failure modes that never show up in a capability deck.
ReadDFM: The Decisions That Don't Show Up on Drawings
Design for manufacturing is a set of decisions, not a checklist. Tolerancing philosophy, second sources, test strategy — the DFM calls that define first-run yield.
ReadPoC, EVT, DVT, PVT: What Each Hardware Gate Actually Decides
PoC, EVT, DVT, and PVT are decision gates, not test phases. What each one decides, what to defer, the typical unit counts and tooling — and the cost of running them wrong. Includes downloadable infographic.
ReadWhen Raspberry Pi Strands Production (And When It Doesn't)
Consumer single-board computers accelerate prototypes and kill field deployments. The honest case for when to ship one, and when to migrate.
ReadWhy Hardware Projects Overrun by 12+ Months
Hardware programs don't slip because engineers are slow. They slip because decisions are deferred. The four structural reasons, and how to spot them.
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