Design & Development#
From concept to working hardware.
Design and development covers the process of turning ideas into real, working systems β from early concept and requirements, through schematic and layout, into part sourcing, prototyping, validation, and iteration. This section captures the decisions, tradeoffs, and workflows that sit between theory and reality.
Design does not happen in isolation. It is shaped by component availability, physical constraints, manufacturability, testability, and long-term maintenance. Choices made early echo forward into debugging, repair, and production. The focus here is practical design thinking β not just how to build circuits, but how to build systems that survive contact with the real world.
Sections#
Ideation & Requirements β Deciding what to actually build: problem definition, constraints, and knowing when not to build.
Proof of Concept β Testing the hard parts before committing: breadboarding, simulation, dev boards, and structured experiments that answer the riskiest questions.
System Architecture β Decomposing complexity: block diagrams, partitioning, interfaces, and avoiding accidental complexity.
Schematic Design β Encoding intent into circuits: reference designs, tolerance analysis, simulation, testability, and design reviews.
Part Selection & Sourcing β Where design meets supply chain: availability, lifecycle, second-sourcing, and designing for substitution.
PCB Layout & Physical Integration β Where ideas become geometry: stackups, mechanical constraints, thermal paths, and assembly awareness.
Prototyping & Bring-Up β First contact with reality: prototype strategies, bring-up checklists, power validation, and capturing lessons.
Validation & Verification β Does it actually meet intent? Functional testing, environmental testing, margin analysis, and regression.
Iteration & Revision Control β Design is revision: change tracking, BOM management, spin-vs-patch decisions, and versioning sanity.
Design for Manufacturing & Longevity β Thinking beyond the bench: manufacturability, yield, serviceability, and end-of-life planning.
Project Retrospectives β Where experience accumulates: surprises, quiet failures, broken assumptions, and turning mistakes into patterns.