John Taylor on the Embedded Systems Cookbook

Mar 5, 2025

John Taylor, an experienced embedded developer with over 30 years in microcontrollers and embedded Linux, discusses his new book, co-authored with Wayne Taylor. They explore practical techniques for embedded project development and emphasize the importance of blending waterfall structure with agile methodologies. Tailored for various roles, from junior developers to managers, the book encourages teams to adapt recipes for their unique challenges. John highlights the role of experience in engineering and the need for improved communication within teams.

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ADVICE

Waterfall then Agile

Start embedded projects with a critical mass of requirements and software architecture.
Then iterate using agile methodologies for the rest of the development process.

ADVICE

Software Development Plan

Create a Software Development Plan (SDP) before starting development.
This clarifies decisions, sets expectations, and improves team alignment.

ANECDOTE

Team Growth and Process

John Taylor's current team grew from 2 to 14 people in 18 months.
This highlighted the need for processes as the team scaled.

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John Taylor returns to the podcast to discuss his new book "The Embedded Project Cookbook", co-authored with Wayne Taylor. The book serves as a practical guide for embedded systems development, providing recipes and techniques that John has refined over his 30+ year career. Unlike his previous book "Patterns in the Machine" which focused on software engineering best practices, this new book takes a more hands-on approach to project mechanics - from requirements gathering through release.

The book provides opinionated guidance on setting up project infrastructure, managing requirements, software architecture, and release processes. While organized in a waterfall-like structure for clarity, it emphasizes the need for agility in embedded development. A key theme is establishing good practices early to make releases boring and predictable rather than chaotic.

The content is valuable for different roles - from junior developers seeking context about the full development lifecycle, to technical leads implementing processes, to managers needing justification for development infrastructure investments. While the book presents John's specific approaches, he emphasizes that teams can adapt the recipes to their needs as long as they deliberately address the underlying challenges.

Key Topics Discussed (Timestamps):
00:00:00 - Introduction and background on John Taylor
00:02:00 - Comparison to previous book "Patterns in the Machine"
00:06:00 - Target audience and use cases
00:15:00 - Software Development Plans and their value
00:20:00 - Foundation setup before coding begins
00:27:00 - Managing project variants and configurations
00:30:00 - Communication and collaboration practices
00:35:00 - Release management and ongoing development
00:40:00 - Iterative development cycles
00:43:00 - Book availability and contact information

Links:
Embedded Systems Cookbook: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/979-8-8688-0327-7
Patterns in the machine (the previous book): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4842-6440-9
John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-tanner-taylor/

You can find Jeff at https://jeffgable.com.
You can find Luca at https://luca.engineer.

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Are you looking for embedded-focused trainings? Head to https://agileembedded.academy/
Ryan Torvik and Luca have started the Embedded AI podcast, check it out at https://embeddedaipodcast.com/