Electronics is going to iterate — just like software and 3D printing already did

This post from Orbisk (orbisk.com) got me thinking.

> 💬 From Bart van Arnhem's LinkedIn post (Orbisk): > "Hardware is hard. I spent two decades in software before starting a hardware company." > Bart describes how he brought the iterate mindset from software over to hardware: validating first on their own 3D printer, and partnering up to move fast. That's how DeltaProto helped source the right sensor within a week instead of a month. > Read the full post on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/posts/bartvanarnhem_hardware-is-hard-i-spent-two-decades-in-share-7483068564166344705-sZIT

In software, iterating has been the standard for decades. You build, test, learn and improve. Nobody expects version 1 to be perfect.

When the 3D printer broke through, the same thing basically happened in mechanical engineering. A part no longer had to come back from the turner or miller weeks later. You printed a version, discovered what could be better, and a few hours later version 2 was on the table.

But electronics lagged behind for a long time.

About ten years ago, a prototype PCBA was made either by hand or with the same processes as a series product. That meant: waiting for the quote, waiting for assembly, testing, discovering a mistake... and then waiting weeks all over again.

As if hardware simply had to be right the first time. (That might well be where the saying "Hardware is hard" comes from.)

Not because electronics is more complicated than software, but because the development process was never set up for iterating.

That was exactly why we started DeltaProto.

Not to launch yet another EMS company, but to change the way of developing.

A proto is not a mini series production.

A proto is a question you want answered as fast as possible.

Can this footprint be better?

Does this component work?

Does this connector fit?

Is this firmware change enough?

Do we still need a design change?

If you can answer those questions within a day instead of in three weeks, it's not just the lead time that changes.

It's the way engineers design.

I believe electronics is going through the same development that software and mechanical engineering went through earlier.

Don't aim for a perfect first version.

Learn from the first version as fast as possible!