Hi all,

            I have done a few embedded projects from the ideas stage, through schematic design/parts selection to pcb manufacture/debugging to the final product. In a each case a lot of time.effort got wasted due to the lack of a design methodology like the ones in use for software development.

Currently I am trying to use Jira/Agile for this end but am not certain if this is the right tool.

Can any one tell if they have used a design methodology for electronics hardware development that they have found useful  (i.e. it saved time+money+frustration)

Thanks for your help.

There are a number of considerations to take into account when developing a device or product. How detailed a design methodology you would pursue is determined by the development challenges, complexity, and if you are designing for manufacture.

A good place to start is to take a look at PRP, or use the search terms "Product Realization Process". Here you will find ISO9001 and derivative methods for development of a device or product.

Take a look at this link for a starting point:

http://www.simplyquality.org/2000%20Summary/req_7-...

You don't necessarily need to implement every process step in great detail unless the design and development warrants it.

Jira is a great tool. We use Jira for development to enumerate program components to be developed once the design has been laid out in something like BPMN2, to capture design errors, design improvements, and feature modifications. I would not use it for creating the project development structure.

When it comes to board layout,there are tools that assist in that process and can work from net lists that stem from your design, i.e. schematic. Bread-boarding a design is useful when dealing with unknowns that will affect your design, i.e. logic uncertainties, or analog circuitry, which is often more of an art than a linear design path, that needs to be fine tuned with empirical testing. This all depends on what you're building and in some cases you will need to layout a board and hope you got it right, or at least close enough that you don't have too many iterations that can be costly in time and money. This could be a place in your development process to capture your deign errors, improvements, and adjustments in Jira. The kanban is a great tool when multiple developers are involved in your project.