『The Agile Embedded Podcast』のカバーアート

The Agile Embedded Podcast

The Agile Embedded Podcast

著者： Luca Ingianni Jeff Gable
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今ならプレミアムプランが3カ月 月額99円

2026年5月12日まで。4か月目以降は月額1,500円で自動更新します。

概要

 Learn how to get your embedded device to market faster AND with higher quality. Join Luca Ingianni and Jeff Gable as they discuss how agile methodologies apply to embedded systems development, with a particular focus on safety-critical industries such as medical devices.2021-2025 Jeff Gable & Luca Ingianni
エピソード
  • Hardware-Software Co-Development with Tobias Kästner

    Hardware-Software Co-Development with Tobias Kästner
    2026/04/01
    We talk with Tobias Kästner, a physicist-turned-software-architect and technical consultant at Inovex, about his journey from painfully slow hardware-software integration cycles to achieving three-week hardware sprints. Tobias shares hard-won lessons from medical device development, where fuzzy requirements and constant feedback from life scientists forced his team to rethink traditional approaches. The conversation centers on practical techniques: breaking monolithic PCB designs into modular "feature boards" connected via shields (think Arduino-style), using Git for hardware version control with SHA-1s printed on silkscreens, and leveraging tools like Zephyr RTOS to enable plug-and-play firmware that matches the modularity of the hardware. Tobias explains how relaxing constraints like board size and using automation to merge schematics allowed his team to iterate rapidly while maintaining a clear path to final form-factor designs. We discuss how this approach scaled to projects with 120+ people across multiple teams, and why the interplay between system architecture, organizational structure, and information flow matters more than most realize. Key Topics [02:30] The painful reality of traditional hardware development: six-month wait for hardware, nine months of debugging[08:00] Breaking apart monolithic PCB designs into modular feature boards with shield connectors[12:45] Relaxing constraints: larger board areas, autorouting, and prioritizing testability over final form factor[18:20] Version control for hardware: putting schematics in Git and printing SHA-1s on silkscreens[22:00] Using automation to merge feature board schematics into final form-factor designs[26:15] Firmware architecture: NuttX, Zephyr, KConfig, and device trees for modular, plug-and-play software[35:40] Scaling agile hardware-software co-development to 120+ person projects across multiple teams[39:00] The interplay of system architecture, organizational architecture, and information architecture Notable Quotes "When the board arrived, not a single line of code had been written for it because no one had been able to touch it. It took us nine additional months to debug all the things out of it." — Tobias Kästner "I've never seen any board working the first time. I've never seen any prototype without thin wires patching things out, but that's maybe a different story." — Tobias Kästner "We cannot think these architectures as independent of one another. If we have limitations in two of these architectures, we will see these limitations in the third architecture as well." — Tobias Kästner Resources Mentioned Inovex - Tobias's company offering engineering consulting services, trainings, and expertise in embedded systems, IoT, and full-stack developmentZephyr RTOS - Open-source real-time operating system with KConfig, device tree support, and extensive driver library that Tobias recommends for modular firmware developmentNuttX RTOS - Apache Foundation RTOS with clean device driver model and KConfig support that Tobias used in earlier projectsKiCad - Open-source PCB design software with emerging Python API support for schematic automation Services and Contact Through Inovex, Tobias provides trainings for both Zephyr and Yocto Linux, as well as consultancy and engineering support for embedded projects -- from 1-2 day workshops evaluating architectural state and cost/benefit analysis, to first prototypes, to full-fledged software development. With partners such as alpha-board (Berlin) and Blunk electronic (Erfurt), they also offer agile hardware services and help teams get started with the methods discussed in this episode. Email: tobias.kaestner@inovex.deTobias Kästner on LinkedIntobiaskaestner on the Zephyr Discord Channel Links Companies: Inovex -- Embedded SystemsBlunk electronicalpha-boardNavimatix Talks and publications: Modular and Agile HW Development (2018 talk)Leveraging Zephyr's HW Abstraction for Agile Systems Engineering (2023 talk)Whitepaper: Agile in der Hardware -- by Gregor Gross, Christoph Schmiedinger, and Tobias KästnerLeveraging Zephyr for Functional Architecture Decomposition (2025 talk) Books recommended by Tobias: Small Groups as Complex Systems -- Holly Arrow et al., SAGE PublicationsThe Dao of Complexity -- Jean Boulton, DeGruyter You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click hereAre you looking for embedded-focused trainings? Head to https://agileembedded.academy/Ryan Torvik and Luca have started the Embedded AI podcast, check it out at https://embeddedaipodcast.com/
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    53 分
  • Test-Driven Development in the Age of AI

    Test-Driven Development in the Age of AI
    2026/03/18

    We explore how test-driven development (TDD) remains essential—perhaps more than ever—when working with AI coding tools. Luca shares his evolved workflow using Claude Code, breaking down how he structures tests in three phases: test ideas, test outlines, and test implementations. We discuss why TDD provides the necessary control and confidence when AI generates code, how it prevents technical debt accumulation, and why tests serve as precise specifications for AI rather than afterthoughts.

    The conversation covers practical challenges like AI's tendency toward "success theater" (overly generous assertions), the importance of maintaining tight control over code quality, and why the bottleneck in AI-assisted development isn't code generation—it's expressing clear intent. We also touch on code spikes, large-scale refactorings, and why treating AI development as pair programming keeps you in the driver's seat. If you're wondering whether TDD still matters when AI writes your code, this episode makes a compelling case that it matters more than ever.

    Key Topics
    • [02:30] Why TDD still matters with AI: confidence and control over generated code
    • [06:45] Tests as specifications: describing desired behavior to AI rather than writing prompts
    • [09:20] The three-phase test workflow: test ideas, test outlines, and implementations
    • [15:30] Pair programming with AI: staying at the conceptual level while AI handles implementation
    • [20:15] Code spikes and exploration: using AI to answer questions before writing production tests
    • [24:40] AI failure modes: over-mocking and "success theater" with weak assertions
    • [28:50] Large-scale refactorings: how AI excels at updating hundreds of tests simultaneously
    • [32:10] The real bottleneck: expressing intent and specifications, not code generation speed
    Notable Quotes

    "As far as I am concerned, test-driven development is just about writing prompts for the AI that it can then use to build what you want it to build." — Luca

    "If you expect that a five-line prompt resulting in 10,000 lines of code will not result in 9,995 lines of uncertainty, you're just deluding yourself." — Luca

    "You can be five times faster than you were before and still maintain a very high production level quality code, but you probably can't be a hundred times faster." — Jeff

    Resources Mentioned
    • Claude Code - Terminal-based AI coding assistant that Luca uses for TDD workflows, keeping conceptual work separate from code-level work
    • Embedded AI Podcast - Luca's separate podcast focusing on AI in embedded systems, co-hosted with Ryan Torvik
    • Luca's AI Training Courses - Hands-on trainings for using AI in embedded systems development (and much more!)
    • links to all of Luca's work - Training, consulting, podcasts, conference talks and everything else

    You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
    You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

    Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

    Are you looking for embedded-focused trainings? Head to https://agileembedded.academy/
    Ryan Torvik and Luca have started the Embedded AI podcast, check it out at https://embeddedaipodcast.com/
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    42 分
  • Engineering Organizations Part 2: Product Companies and Market-Driven Focus

    Engineering Organizations Part 2: Product Companies and Market-Driven Focus
    2026/03/04

    In this second part of our series on engineering organizations, Jeff and Luca explore how companies that build products should focus their efforts differently depending on their stage and scope. We start with startups and early-stage companies desperately searching for product-market fit, where the brutal truth is: quality doesn't matter yet. Your MVP should embarrass you—if it doesn't, you waited too long. We discuss the critical mental shift from throwaway prototypes to proper engineering once validation arrives, and why technical founders often fail by solving the wrong problem brilliantly.

    Moving up the ladder, we examine narrow-focus companies that have found their niche—like the German firm that does nothing but maintain a 100-year-old anchor chain machine, or specialists in medium-power electrical switches. These companies win through efficiency and deep expertise, but face existential risk if the market shifts. Finally, we tackle wide-focus companies introducing multiple product lines, where the challenge becomes running internal startups while managing established products, each requiring radically different approaches. The key insight: your focus must match your product's lifecycle stage, whether that's ruthless speed, cost optimization, or high-level process learning.

    Key Topics
    • [02:30] Startups and early-stage companies: the existential search for product-market fit
    • [06:45] The MVP philosophy: if you're not embarrassed, you waited too long
    • [11:20] Quality vs. speed vs. scope: why quality doesn't matter in early stages
    • [15:40] The Potemkin village approach: building facades to validate demand
    • [19:15] Embedded products and MVPs: when physical products need creative shortcuts
    • [23:50] The critical switch: from prototypes to proper engineering after validation
    • [28:30] Narrow-focus companies: German hidden champions and deep specialization
    • [34:10] Wide-focus companies: running internal startups within established organizations
    • [40:25] Product teams and parallel focuses: managing different lifecycle stages simultaneously
    • [45:00] Large established companies: high-level process learning and avoiding organizational weight
    Notable Quotes

    "If you read the Lean Startup, they will explicitly say: if you weren't embarrassed by your MVP, you waited too long. It really has to be painfully flimsy because you cannot afford to do it well." — Luca

    "Quality doesn't even factor because you're very explicitly building mock-ups from chewing gum and paper mache. They are fully intended to be thrown away." — Luca

    "Getting that product-market fit is existential. You will die if you do not get it and get it relatively quickly." — Jeff

    Resources Mentioned
    • The Lean Startup - Eric Ries' book discussing MVP philosophy and the importance of being embarrassed by your first product
    • The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick's book about getting real customer feedback and validation through financial commitment
    • The Art of Innovation - Tom Kelley's book on IDEO's design process, including the clothespin switch story
    • Luca's Website - Trainings on embedded agile, AI in embedded systems, and more
    • Jeff's Website - Consulting services for medical device software development

    You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
    You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

    Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

    Are you looking for embedded-focused trainings? Head to https://agileembedded.academy/
    Ryan Torvik and Luca have started the Embedded AI podcast, check it out at https://embeddedaipodcast.com/
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    44 分
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