Year: 2010

Jason Williamson recently wrote a great article for Embedded Insights about dogfooding.

No, Jason has not come up with a new and unappetizing diet plan! Wikipedia defines dogfooding, or eating your own dog food as “when a company uses the products that it makes. Dogfooding can be a way for a company to demonstrate confidence in its own products, and hence a kind of testimonial advertising.”

“I encourage you to have a hearty helping of your own dog food. Not only do you serve up a result that will please your customer, but you learn by experience where you can make your software stronger and more capable. By developing with current releases, by keeping new features tested and ready to go, and by taking appropriate measures to architect the project, you make the eating of your own dog food a gourmet experience — and keep your customers coming back for seconds.”

For more about dogfooding, read “Eating dog food? It’s all in the preparation.“

Recently, Don Dingee of Embedded Computing Design wrote a short piece entitled Phonemance. Think “bromance” and then substitute your iPhone for your best pal…phonemance. He discusses the fact that our passion for smartphones is driving the embedded systems industry.

Don ends this short article with an anecdote about his personal surrender to his Droid, an MLB app and social media. I love his last line: “…the stuff that brings us the most joy is the stuff that we don’t have to think much about to enjoy.”

I’m left pondering the “dilemma” of the developers of those apps and HMIs that the world has come to love so much. It’s not simple to deliver complex applications in a way that people don’t need to think in order to use them, enjoy them. But it is a challenge…and it is FUN!