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Sounds like a larger version of the problems that most hardware crowd funding campaigns run into. I think that we've done ourselves a disservice as a hardware c

Sounds like a larger version of the problems that most hardware crowd funding campaigns run into. I think that we've done ourselves a disservice as a hardware community by promising to deliver consumer electronic devices for less than $250k in a few months. It doesn't seem to matter how complete your design is, what manufacturing partner you've lined up, or what pedigree your team has - everyone is spending more than they raise and taking longer than they budgeted. I think it would be wise for hardware companies to collectively start lowering expectations from campaigns like the one described here. The team at Spark Devices did a great job with this process. Their first project, the wi-fi bulb socket [0], had a large funding goal and a more realistic timeline. When the campaign failed to materialize they shifted directions to the Spark Core [1], which was much more successful and delivered very close to the projected timeline if I remember correctly. Now they are closing a sizable series A [2] to build an operating system for the internet of things. If they had originally made the Spark socket goal $100k they would have reached their goal and then likely failed to deliver with the cash they raised, which would have pulled them down into the mess that is described in this article. Maybe more hardware teams should take a good hard look at how they view failure and decide if they want to be the next Spark or the next myIDkey. [0] - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-upgrade-your-lights-with-wi-fi-and-apps https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-upgr... [1] - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-core-wi-fi-for-everything-arduino-compatible https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-core... [2] - http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/08/spark-io-raises-4-9-million-series-for-an-internet-of-things-os/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/08/spark-io-raises-4-9-million...

sliverstorm 12y ago
I have no evidence, but it seems like as a community people significantly underestimate the challenges of hardware development. I'm not sure whether it's because the community thinks "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap!" or if it is the more subtle "We haven't done this before, so we aren't aware of the pitfalls"
- greenyoda 12y ago
  "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software!" I'm not sure how people could think this. Hardware is a much less forgiving medium than software: - If your web application requires three times the resources you thought it would, you can easily add more servers. But a device that needs to fit in a USB key has hard limitations on size, memory, power dissipation, etc. You can't ask people to carry around a briefcase-sized device (or even another phone-sized device) to hold their passwords. - If your web application has a horrible bug, you can wake up your developers and have them fix it at 3:00 AM. If you find a bug in your embedded software after you ship, it can only be fixed by getting all your users to upgrade their software (assuming your embedded software is in flash memory, not in ROM). If you find a bug in your hardware after you ship, you need to send everyone a new device.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    I'm not sure how people could think this. People like to think that their discipline is the hardest discipline- that means they are smart just by association. Also, if you are a software guy you might never have even heard of key steps like DFM, DFT, etc, which makes it easier to say "hardware seems so easy"
- mbesto 12y ago
  Planning fallacy is planning fallacy. Perhaps it's more exaggerated in hardware, but doesn't negate the fact that it will always exist and planning is hard.
- morgante 12y ago
  > Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap! I've literally never heard anything say or think that. Myself included, nearly every software developer I know is intimidated by how hard hardware seems.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    I used to hear it frequently when I rubbed elbows with more software guys. Maybe not in exactly those words, but you can tell, when a software guy budgets 1 month to design the hardware and 11 months to "do the majority of the work" (aka write the software)
iancarroll 12y ago
The Ubuntu Edge (?) tablet was also a great example. They honestly said, we can't do this without 12 million.
- Andrex 12y ago
  No, they got $12 million, but they said they couldn't do it without $32 million.
  - iancarroll 12y ago
    Ah, sorry. Wasn't looking at the figures when I wrote that.

sliverstorm 12y ago

I have no evidence, but it seems like as a community people significantly underestimate the challenges of hardware development. I'm not sure whether it's because the community thinks "Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap!" or if it is the more subtle "We haven't done this before, so we aren't aware of the pitfalls"

greenyoda 12y ago
"Oh, hardware is so much easier than software!" I'm not sure how people could think this. Hardware is a much less forgiving medium than software: - If your web application requires three times the resources you thought it would, you can easily add more servers. But a device that needs to fit in a USB key has hard limitations on size, memory, power dissipation, etc. You can't ask people to carry around a briefcase-sized device (or even another phone-sized device) to hold their passwords. - If your web application has a horrible bug, you can wake up your developers and have them fix it at 3:00 AM. If you find a bug in your embedded software after you ship, it can only be fixed by getting all your users to upgrade their software (assuming your embedded software is in flash memory, not in ROM). If you find a bug in your hardware after you ship, you need to send everyone a new device.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  I'm not sure how people could think this. People like to think that their discipline is the hardest discipline- that means they are smart just by association. Also, if you are a software guy you might never have even heard of key steps like DFM, DFT, etc, which makes it easier to say "hardware seems so easy"
mbesto 12y ago
Planning fallacy is planning fallacy. Perhaps it's more exaggerated in hardware, but doesn't negate the fact that it will always exist and planning is hard.
morgante 12y ago
> Oh, hardware is so much easier than software! This will be a snap! I've literally never heard anything say or think that. Myself included, nearly every software developer I know is intimidated by how hard hardware seems.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  I used to hear it frequently when I rubbed elbows with more software guys. Maybe not in exactly those words, but you can tell, when a software guy budgets 1 month to design the hardware and 11 months to "do the majority of the work" (aka write the software)

iancarroll 12y ago

The Ubuntu Edge (?) tablet was also a great example. They honestly said, we can't do this without 12 million.

Andrex 12y ago
No, they got $12 million, but they said they couldn't do it without $32 million.
- iancarroll 12y ago
  Ah, sorry. Wasn't looking at the figures when I wrote that.