“Almost done” is not a plan

Embedded projects often live in a fog called almost done. The board comes up. A demo runs. Then the last ten percent grows a new last ten percent.

The useful move is to write down what “done” would actually mean for the next hardware spin: which tests, which interfaces, which known defects. If you cannot write that list, you do not have a finish line.

I would rather have a short ugly list than a green slide. The list can be attacked. The slide cannot.