Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
ting goals and holding reviews, best practices include and require making an investment
in your tools (computer-aided design [CAD] software, circuit references, old designs, test
methods) and having enough discipline (whether it's you working alone or in a team) so
that you pass only those circuits and designs that are truly ready to graduate to the next
phase.
This chapter discusses the overall engineering design process for hardware. Starting
with the definition of a project's scope and purpose, it covers the different tasks required
to go from the prototype phase, through concept refinement, through iterative develop-
ment, and, once the final design is locked down, through the final checks before releasing
the project to manufacturing. This chapter also defines which files to generate as source
files to label as open source hardware for a printed circuit board (PCB) design.
The Phase of Projects
Hacking is fun! You already know that if you start hacking on a project before you have a
plan, it can be fun, but there's no guarantee that it will be productive. If you have a goal
and a deadline, yet you're relying on a seat-of-the-pants prescient, “I'll know it when I
see it,” feeling to tell you when your project is done, that's not engineering—that's art. And
it's hard to make art on command.
Whenever you set out to begin a project, whether you recognize it or not, your work-
flow naturally follows a set of phases. In project management and engineering design,
each of these phases gets called out explicitly.
First, you have a grand (possibly vague) idea for something you want to build. Perhaps
you'd like to make a derivative of the Blinky Buildings project from the walk-through in
Chapter 6 . This is your project's over-arching purpose . When you begin to think about
the resources you have available, you might realize that there's only so much you can
build with the time, money, and skill you have. Understanding what you will (or won't) be
able to do from a practical standpoint sets your project's scope. Whatever your scope is,
you know for your project to really work out, it has to have certain key features. These
features can be anything from design elements to production requirements, but you need
to settle this information about what you need to do and to build for your project to be a
success. Whether you think about these needs in terms of analytical metrics or “I'll know
it when I see it,” they're critical and are called your specifications and requirements .
The back-and-forth negotiation where you nail down the specific details of your purpose,
resources, scope, and critical requirements is called the product definition phase . What
you're left with at the end of this phase is your definition . With your formal definition in
hand, it's time to get hacking.
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