Designing and Launching an Embedded Product
We often have the mindset, 'Build it and they will come,' but anyone who has started a business before knows that is the mantra for failure. In this session, we will examine the business side of development. Attendees will learn about the trade-offs that need to be made from a business perspective when starting a new product development effort. We will discuss business topics such as marketing, development costs, minimum viable products and how to start with something that can scale in the long run.
One key factor that I have repeatedly seen in companies that successfully launch a quality product is that they take the time up front to put their design and development processes in place. In this session, we are going to explore design and development processes and how they can be applied to effectively develop a product without tying a developer's hands, but also reeling in any 'wild-west” efforts. Attendees will walk away with an understanding of what minimum techniques should be applied to product develop along with how to use processes to achieve consistent results.
There is often a bug among entrepreneurs to build a complex, feature rich product on the first pass. Unfortunately, these entrepreneurs are trying to design the third or fourth iteration of the product the first time and that can result in delays to market, cost overruns and even the business failing. In this session, we are going to discuss how we can design and build a minimally viable product with the right architecture in place that allows the product to easily scale in the field and in future revisions.
There is often a trade-off between cost, time-to-market and quality that needs to be balanced. While some would argue this relationship no longer exists, I see the trade-offs time and again. In this session, we are going to discuss what it means to develop a quality product which includes defining what quality is, how it is measured and how we can go about balancing quality with other product development drivers.
The modern development cycle is often short on time and budgets which leaves developers scrambling. Developers who are scrambling often make mistakes which just exacerbates the problem. In this session, we are going to examine modern techniques for accelerating time to market. Attendees will discuss how to leverage microcontroller platforms, open source software, the cloud, machine learning and several other tools to speed up development. We will also discuss tools and resources that teams can leverage in their quest.
Jacob Beningo is an embedded software consultant who currently works with clients in more than a dozen countries to dramatically transform their businesses by improving product quality, cost and time to market. He has published more than 300 articles on embedded software development techniques, has published several books, is a sought-after speaker and technical trainer and holds three degrees which include a Masters of Engineering from the University of Michigan.