Determining Your Goals
The first step in designing the perfect PCB is to have a well-defined set of goals that you would like your design to accomplish. To steal a little bit from the business world, you should always set SMART goals for your project, this means:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time Bound
As a personal example, I have started working on another side project for my own use. The bathroom in my apartment is too dark in the evening for me to get around in, but when I turn the light on it is way too bright and wakes me up.
To fix this little issue I thought I would just go buy a small lamp. Unfortunately, I am a little bit too picky and couldn’t find a lamp that I liked. That is when I had the idea to design one of my own. Of course, I’m not talking about just any lamp. I wanted a multi-color, adjustable brightness, wirelessly controlled lamp.
Sounds cool right? Of course it does! So before the idea was able to leave my head I jotted it down in my notebook and began planning.
At this point, my goals were pretty broad, let’s take a look at what I had:
- Multi-color lamp
- Adjustable brightness
- Wireless control
Unfortunately none of these goals are very specific at all. What do I mean by multi-color? Is that two colors, three, or any variable color? What is adjustable brightness? I mean technically on and off would be two different brightness settings right? Wireless control? What, do I want to use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, RF, Zigbee, sound? Any of these options would be possible.
Revising the project goals to be SMART led me to the following list of goals:
- A continuously adjustable high-brightness RGB LED filtered through a fogged acrylic cover for even light dispersal.
- Continuously variable brightness control that will allow me to choose any brightness setting between completely off and fully on.
- Bluetooth low energy 4.0 wireless specification interface, controllable from an iOS or Android devices as well as an optional dedicated controller.
With the exception of “time bound” these goals meet all of the criteria of a SMART design and allow me to proceed forward with a clear vision of what I want to accomplish.
By doing your research first and setting SMART goals for your project you place yourself on the right track to create that perfect design.
Visualizing Your Design
Now that you have a...
