Listen to the episode:
The episode, ‘Git-ing Started in the World of Agile & DevOps Hardware Development‘.
Episode overview
Hardware engineering keeping pace in the age of DevOps
The infrastructure we’ve taken for granted wasn’t designed overnight and isn’t staying put. It’s constantly evolving to enable the next generation of life-changing products. But this evolution is currently hamstrung by incumbent and proprietary development infrastructure built for waterfall project management (mostly in the 90s), requiring manual pdf exports, emails, and in-person meetings at each design revision.
Problems
- Mistakes in hardware are expensive
- Playing whack-a-mole in design process
- Many completed design reviews are in pdfs, excels, and everything in between
- Engineers are a scarce talent, and bandwidth is crucial
- Getting trapped in legacy systems causes more challenges
These pressures have been felt for the past decade, but the last couple of years have made it more critical. As more and more teams have gone to agile, they plan to have different parts of products come together at predefined and regular intervals.
The software world’s influence on hardware
Many hardware teams are starting to leverage the power of Git by piecing together disparate tools, but they’re still stuck in the past, especially when compared to software development.
In terms of software and hardware, the teams are becoming more interconnected. A lot of software companies are becoming hardware-centered companies, and vice versa. Products are increasingly being built side by side – teams were originally speaking different languages and employing different methodologies. But now they have to make cohesive products and work together.
What’s the point in having the software ready if the hardware is not? Companies are building bridges between those two teams to build them more cohesively. These companies will have an advantage in the future. Engineering teams that can keep everyone on the same page, developing together at a fast pace, will be in a much better position than their competitors.
The benefits of a Git-style approach to hardware lifecycle management
There are many resources and supporting info on how to use these tools. Almost every hardware company has a software team – and they are already using Git.
- Faster time to market
- Giving teams flexible workflows
- Faster verification
- Increased flexibility in hardware development
- Being nimble and able to respond to changes
- Stronger accuracy
- Automating tasks
- Free up bandwidth from administrative tasks
