## Key Topics

* [00:30] Introduction to the listener's question about repository granularity in embedded development

* [01:15] The listener's approach: separate repositories for different work products in safety-critical industries

* [03:20] Luca's initial reaction and concerns about over-complication

* [05:45] Discussion of monorepo approaches and configuration management

* [08:10] The concept of micro-repositories and parallels to microservices

* [11:30] Using feature flags and CI pipelines instead of repository separation

## Notable Quotes

> "You're splitting something which ought to be joined together into different repositories and hiding whatever is happening within the repositories from the different users, from the different developers." — Luca Ingianni

> "The risk of course is that you will not spot divergence early enough because people just don't merge because it's a chore and because things might break, and of course that is the point - the earlier you notice that something breaks, the easier it will be to fix it." — Luca Ingianni

> "I'm willing to guarantee that you're going to get the architecture wrong at least on the first try. You think you're being really smart and you cut it up into a bunch of microservices or micro-repositories, and you're just going to get the boundaries wrong." — Luca Ingianni

> "I would opt for fewer repositories and rather do configuration management within the repositories as opposed to between repositories. Use feature flags, use tagging, use whatever you want to insulate changes that might be breaking from the rest of the code base." — Luca Ingianni

## Resources Mentioned

* John Taylor's Embedded Project Cookbook - A resource mentioned by the listener that discusses sequential events in embedded projects

* Trunk-Based Development - Development methodology discussed throughout the episode

* Minimum CD Podcast - Previous podcast episode referenced by the listener

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

The episode discusses the concept of Minimum Viable Continuous Delivery (Minimum CD), which represents a counter-movement to heavyweight frameworks like SAFe. The hosts explore how Minimum CD provides a set of essential practices for successfully building software-based products without unnecessary complexity. The approach focuses on core principles rather than rigid frameworks, making it particularly relevant for embedded systems development.

The discussion covers the fundamental requirements for continuous delivery, including automated testing, pipeline-driven deployments, and trunk-based development. The hosts emphasize that while these practices may seem challenging for embedded systems, they become increasingly important as devices become more sophisticated and connected.

A key theme throughout the episode is the importance of building trust in the development process through automation, consistent practices, and cultural commitment. The hosts stress that while some practices may seem difficult to implement in embedded systems, the more challenging they are, the more valuable they become when successfully implemented.

Timestamps and Topics:
00:00:00 - Introduction and overview of Minimum CD
00:02:00 - Discussion of Minimum CD as counter-movement to complex frameworks
00:03:45 - Continuous Integration fundamentals
00:15:35 - Pipeline as the only way to deploy
00:27:00 - Production-like test environments
00:29:45 - Rollback capabilities for connected devices
00:32:25 - Configuration deployment with artifacts
00:34:50 - Trunk-based development principles
00:39:30 - Automated testing requirements
00:41:10 - Maintaining delivered work integrity
00:45:55 - Wrap-up and closing thoughts

Shownotes:

Link to minimumcd.org: https://minimumcd.org/
Reference to Brian Finster as instigator of Minimum CD
Reference to Raymond Chen's blog about Windows backward compatibility
Reference to previous episode on trunk-based development
Reference to interviews with Philip Johnston from Embedded Artistry
Reference to interview with Francois from Mend Fault
Link to Agile Embedded Slack group

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

Key Topics

* [03:00] Ryan's background in offensive cybersecurity and defense contracting

* [04:30] The mindset and challenges of vulnerability research and hacking

* [09:15] How security researchers approach attacking embedded devices

* [13:45] Techniques for extracting and analyzing firmware

* [19:30] Security considerations for embedded developers

* [24:00] The importance of designing security from the beginning

* [28:45] Security challenges for small companies without dedicated security staff

* [33:20] Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) and other security measures

* [37:00] Emulation technology for testing embedded systems

* [45:30] Tulip Tree's approach to embedded system emulation and security testing

* [50:15] Resources for learning about cybersecurity and hacking

Notable Quotes

> "When you're on the vulnerability research side, you're trying to find a time when the software does something wrong. When it does something unexpected." — Ryan Torvik

> "Don't roll your own cryptography. Use a standard library for cryptography." — Ryan Torvik

> "We're seeing that the maintenance costs are what are getting people now. You're expected to maintain this device, but now you got to be able to actually update the device." — Ryan Torvik

> "It's so much more expensive to put security in after the fact if it's possible in the first place. Why is that even something that needs to be debated?" — Luca Ingianni

Resources Mentioned

[Tulip Tree Technology](tuliptreetech.com) - Ryan's company focused on embedded system security and emulation

* IDA Pro - Interactive disassembler for firmware analysis

* Binary Ninja - Interactive disassembler from Vector35

* Ghidra - NSA's open-source software reverse engineering tool

* Microcorruption - Beginner-friendly CTF challenge for learning embedded system hacking

* National Vulnerability Database - Public database of security vulnerabilities

Things to do

* Join the Agile Embedded Podcast Slack channel to connect with the hosts and other listeners

* Check out Tulip Tree Technology's website for their emulation tools and security services

* Try Microcorruption CTF challenges to learn about embedded system security vulnerabilities

* Consider security implications early in your design process rather than as an afterthought

* Use secure programming languages like Rust that help prevent common security issues

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

• [02:30] Definition of BDD as an additional layer of discipline on top of TDD
• [03:15] Common pitfalls of TDD, including testing to implementation and brittle tests
• [08:30] The structure of BDD tests using Given-When-Then format
• [12:00] Applying BDD at different levels, from unit tests to system tests
• [15:45] Using test doubles and spies for hardware interactions in embedded systems
• [22:30] Testing state machines with BDD
• [27:00] Off-target testing and hardware abstraction layers
• [33:00] Why BDD isn't more widely used in embedded systems
• [36:30] Using code coverage as a signal rather than a goal metric
• [39:00] Overcoming the learning curve and maintaining discipline in BDD

"BDD is an additional layer of discipline on top of TDD. Dan North's goal was to get straight to the good stuff of TDD without getting into the pitfalls." — Steve

"The key thing that BDD does by saying we're going to focus on behavior is you look at the API that you've written and you say, what can I do through the public API to affect this, to check the results and so forth?" — Steve

"By having abstraction layers, you create your thin layer that's substitutable with either the real code on target, or with a test double off target." — Steve

"Code coverage as a goal metric is not a good thing. Rather than using code coverage as just this almost dimensionless metric, use it as a signal to guide you." — Steve

"By adhering very strictly to the simple rules of how to do BDD, by forcing yourself to the discipline of that strict adherence, it keeps you on track." — Steve

• James Grenning's book
• Steve's blog post
• Embedded Online Talk
• Ian Cooper's video

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

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.

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

In this episode, Jeff and Luca discuss trunk-based development, a software development practice where developers merge their work into the main branch (trunk) frequently - at least daily. They explain how this approach differs from traditional branching models like GitFlow, and address common objections and concerns. The hosts emphasize that while trunk-based development may seem risky, it actually reduces risk by exposing integration problems early and forcing teams to implement good engineering practices like automated testing and feature flags.

The discussion highlights how trunk-based development acts as a "forcing function" that encourages better development practices, smaller changes, and more frequent collaboration between team members. They explain that while this approach originated in web development, it's equally applicable to embedded systems. The hosts cite research from the book "Accelerate" showing that trunk-based development is a predictor of high-performing software teams.

The episode concludes by emphasizing that most objections to trunk-based development actually point to underlying process issues that need to be addressed, and that the benefits of early integration and feedback outweigh the perceived downsides.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction and topic overview
00:03:00 - Basic version control concepts and branching
00:08:00 - Definition and principles of trunk-based development
00:13:00 - Feature flags explanation and implementation
00:20:00 - Common objections to trunk-based development
00:27:00 - Application to embedded systems
00:34:00 - Benefits of trunk-based development
00:40:00 - Impact on team dynamics and collaboration
00:47:00 - Research backing and evidence from "Accelerate"

Shownotes / Links:
MinimumCD: https://minimumcd.org/
Accelerate: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35747076-accelerate
The nvie branching model: https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

The episode features a discussion with Mitch English, a product development team lead at Inertia, about using the QP (Quantum Platform) framework for embedded systems development. Mitch and Jeff recently collaborated on a medical device project where they successfully implemented QP. The framework, created by Miro Samek, implements the actor model with active objects running in their own threads and communicating via messages. This approach helps avoid common concurrency issues found in traditional RTOS implementations.

The discussion covers how QP's hierarchical state machine framework makes it easier to manage complex state transitions and system behaviors. They share their experience using QP on a blood analyzer project, discussing how they structured the code with different layers of abstraction and maintained multiple test builds throughout development. The team found that QP's architecture helped make the system's complexity more manageable and testable.

A key learning they shared was about event communication - while they initially used direct posting between active objects, they later realized that using the publish-subscribe pattern more extensively would have made testing easier and the system more flexible. They recommend starting with QP's simple examples and gradually building up complexity rather than trying to implement complex examples right away.

Key Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction and background
00:03:00 - Overview of QP framework and actor model
00:06:30 - Discussion of hierarchical state machines
00:19:30 - Project architecture and implementation approach
00:27:00 - Testing strategies and development process
00:30:00 - Team structure and collaboration
00:35:00 - Hardware/software integration
00:39:00 - Advice for getting started with QP
00:41:50 - About Inertia and contact information

Links:

Miro Samek's QP framework: https://www.state-machine.com/products/qp
Miro's book on QP framework: https://www.state-machine.com/psicc2
QP GitHub repository with example code: https://github.com/QuantumLeaps/qpc-examples
Inertia website: http://www.inertiapd.com/
Mitch English LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellenglish/

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here

https://youtu.be/Zwo1aTElfis

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

Want to join the agile Embedded Slack? Click here