Article
-
Introducing SpinDance’s TechRadar: Navigating the 50-page Menu of Technology Entrees
September 20, 2023
Have you ever walked into a restaurant and were handed a menu that feels more like an encyclopedia, complete with a table of contents? Don’t get me wrong, I like to have options. However, too many options leaves you feeling like everything is going to be mediocre. The old adage of being a “jack of all trades and an expert at none” feels like it fits well. It is very different when you walk into […]
-
Mastering the Art of the Customer Demo
July 19, 2023
Does your team struggle with planning and preparing a customer demo? Do you question the value of regularly demoing to your customers? Is it hard to find the balance of the right amount of time to invest in demos? These are all questions we have grappled with at SpinDance. We run our projects using the agile methodology which means we (usually our developers) are typically demoing to our clients every two weeks. It’s important that […]
-
Securing IoT Devices – Manufacturing and Provisioning
June 23, 2023
One of the most vulnerable stages of an IoT product is the manufacturing process. Ensuring that a device leaves the assembly line secured and ready to be connected requires some unique infrastructure and forethought. This article provides an overview of the primary security goals and best practices. The example is based on an ESP32 being provisioned to AWS, but the principles can be applied to any cloud infrastructure or hardware platform. SpinDance has developed patterns […]
-
The Power of Transparency: Embracing Agile Methodology for Successful Project Management
May 24, 2023
Someone recently asked me what I love the most about my role as a Project Manager (PM) here at SpinDance. Having come from previous work experiences that had a closed door policy with little to no communication, the answer was easy. It’s the transparency. Here at SpinDance, the focus is on an open door, open lines of communication, all hands on deck environment. We truly work as a team. Sales is consistently updating the team […]
-
Design Phase = Successful Project
March 6, 2023
In our last blog post Pitfalls of Connected Product Development, we covered the dangers customers can face at various stages of their IoT Journey. Being aware of the pitfalls is just the first step in avoiding them. A comprehensive project design phase can help eliminate them completely, before even one line of code is written. We often get the question “Why should we engage in a design phase?” This usually masks the underlying question “Why […]
-
Pitfalls of Connected Product Development
January 16, 2023
The Internet of Things (IoT) is challenging, both on a technical and business level. SpinDance has worked with many customers at various stages in their IoT journey. This includes those in the early exploration stages or those in the later stages where we’ve helped rescue a project that has gone off track. As software consultants focused on IoT, our job is to understand the challenges our customers can face and how to help our customers […]
-
The Essential Role of Software Maintenance in IoT success
December 2, 2022
No one gets excited about “maintenance.” We like buying and building new things: driving a new car off the lot, or closing on a new home. These are events we look forward to. But paying to maintain these investments? That’s a different story. No one particularly enjoys paying for oil changes or tire rotations. And we certainly don’t like replacing a broken water heater. But while we dislike paying for maintenance, we understand timely upkeep […]
-
Want a Successful IoT Project? Build an IoT Product Roadmap.
November 9, 2022
Knowing where you are going is important to achieve your business goals. Think of how GPS technology has transformed the way we navigate through our daily lives. We can get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible, and we almost never get lost. In product development it is equally important to have tools that will guide you through the process. Unfortunately, unlike GPS, there is no service that can automatically […]
-
How We Run Agile Development at SpinDance
September 7, 2022
At SpinDance we run our projects using an agile development methodology. Like any methodology, agile development requires contextualization based on where and how it is being applied. We have adapted the core principles of agile development and made some modifications, based on our experience with many projects within our context, IoT system development. Agile Development Values Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to […]
-
What is a Product Owner?
August 17, 2022
When people ask what I do for work and I tell them I work for an IoT software consulting company they typically say “Ah, so you’re a developer?” When I respond with, “No, I’m a Product Owner”, I usually get a blank stare. I find it’s a role that is not well understood outside of teams that work closely with a Product Owner (PO). In short, a PO helps answer the question: what are we […]