Articles by Howdy Pierce

I sat recently through a long, multiple-day design review for a major appliance manufacturer. This company —my customer — has a competitor who recently launched an IoT version of their product. In response, my customer is planning a large IoT offering, with a complex app that will support every possible option that their product offers.... View Article

It's likely that delivery efficiency is going to get more important in the future.

Another day, another public hack: Today we learned that a “cyber-espionage operation” has used a previously unknown flaw in Adobe Flash to gain information from NATO governments and others. And also 87% of Android devices are vulnerable to numerous known hacks because there’s no good business model to distribute patches on that platform. That’s just... View Article

One common approach to hiring an engineering services firm is to issue an RFP. The core idea is, you write up your requirements, and get several engineering design services firms to bid. Usually the assumption is that every compliant bid is equivalent on quality and features, and therefore the decision is made based on schedule and total cost. This isn\'t a good idea.

One thing that is striking amongst different engineering cultures is the range of approaches to scheduling accuracy: How tolerant is the organization of schedule slips? And therefore how aggressive are engineering planners encouraged to be?

I’ve got a new article at Entrepreneur magazine: “The Internet of Things Will Have Arrived When You Don’t Even Notice It’s There.” For most devices, Internet connectivity just isn’t that compelling. Really: How much do I care about my hot water heater? I certainly don’t need regular communications with it. I just want to know... View Article

Our customer Pro1 — the second-largest thermostat vendor in North America — was featured in an article in the Boulder Daily Camera over the weekend: And thanks to a coordinated effort of businesses in Boulder County, Pro1 is looking to expand that market share with an “Internet of Things” technology that would compete with the... View Article

Two friends — both evangelical acolytes of the Church of Apple — have been talking this week about the news that ApplePay and Google Wallet have been turned off by retailers who are backing a not-yet-released payment alternative called CurrentC. (And really, how dare RiteAid try to grab a few cents from each transaction? Clearly... View Article

I’m sipping coffee while listening to my sweet new U2 album, and I’m pondering the future of openness with the Apple Watch. I haven’t seen any commentary about the fact that at launch it will only work with a recent iPhone. I certainly could be wrong, but I don’t think this state of affairs will... View Article

I was interviewed by Xconomy today in a piece entitled “Could Fallout from Aereo Ruling Have “Chilling Effect On Startups?” Here’s a little more analysis than what was covered in the Xconomy article. The question of how the decision would affect innovation was raised immediately after the ruling by Chet Kanojia, Aereo’s CEO, when he... View Article

We have recently had several prospective customers approach us who are self-funded startups. Each of these customers was hoping we could help them develop an embedded product to the point where it could be sold on Kickstarter. And each of them wanted us to get them through some hard technical challenge that stands between them... View Article

I’ve got a new article up at Xconomy, sharing some thoughts about how to find the right Chief Technology Officer for your startup: I’ve got a strong bias that you are likely to need at least one member of your founding team who is a strong technology visionary and evangelist. Assuming you’re an entrepreneur with... View Article