Product engineering

Unlike software development, hardware development is well hard. The time taken, the complexity, and the execution are expensive. Imagine a syntax error in a JavaScript console; all we need to do is go to the specific line number, make the changes, and then refresh the browser.

Now compare this with hardware product development. From the time a piece of hardware is identified to when it is put on a supermarket shelf as a shrink-wrapped product takes at least 8 months, with at least four iterations of the product being made to validate and test it in the real world.

To give another example, the positioning of components on a product makes or breaks it. Imagine if there were no ridges or grip on a charger plug; your hand will always slip while pulling the charger out of the socket. This is value engineering.

Putting together a Proof Of Concept (POC) is very simple, as you will see in the rest of this book. Turning this POC into a shrink-wrapped product is a different ball game altogether. The difference is the same as between singing in your bathroom and singing on a stage with millions of people watching you.

Remember that the examples that we will build in this book are all POCs, and none of them are remotely close to being used in the production of a product. You can always use the solutions we will work on in this book to gain a better understanding of implementation and then design your own solution around them.