Product Management - For the Physical World
- Yoel Frischoff
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
A Series.
A Deep Dive into Smart Hardware: Challenges and Breakthroughs
[ Explore the full series ➔ The Road TLV Blog]
Hardware is hard—really hard. Unlike software, physical product testing demands high upfront investment, long development cycles, and far less flexibility for iteration. For product managers, navigating this terrain means mastering prototype validation, rigorous hardware user testing, and strategic risk mitigation—all while aligning with user needs and market demand.
This in-depth blog series breaks down the unique pain points of hardware product development and reveals how smart products and connected interfaces are changing the game. Learn how software-hardware integration empowers agile design, post-launch improvement, and continuous customer feedback loops—previously unheard of in traditional hardware.
Written by product strategist Yoel Frischoff, whose expertise spans industrial design, manufacturing, and financial planning, this series delivers practical insights for anyone building smart hardware at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds.
Enjoy the ride!
Product Management for the Physical World 🔧 - Inside the series
Why hardware is so hard to get right—and why early-stage prototype validation can make or break your startup.
The unique challenges product leaders face with integrated hardware and software products. It emphasizes the importance of early validation to mitigate risks and the difficulties in creating meaningful MVPs due to the monolithic nature of hardware products.
The hidden traps in hardware user testing and how to validate demand before you commit to tooling and production.
Hardware startups face unique challenges, particularly in terms of timing and cost of failure. While software companies can test market adoption with MVPs, hardware ventures must invest heavily in production and distribution, making failure more costly. Despite these risks, hardware is essential for our physical world, and digital technologies can improve the fortunes of hardware startups.
How digital touchpoints and over-the-air updates unlock flexibility in smart hardware.
Digital interfaces, evolving from simple dials and gauges to sophisticated touchscreens and beyond, have revolutionized hardware products. They offer greater flexibility, enabling iterative design and software-defined interactions, while also facilitating over-the-air updates and remote monitoring. As technology advances, the fusion of multi-modal input methods and communication protocols will further transform the user experience, blurring the lines between hardware and software.
The evolving role of product managers in driving successful software-hardware integration.
The rise of digital user experience and interfaces in hardware products, particularly in the automotive industry, necessitates a shift in product management practices. This involves a focus on software-driven interface design, continuous customer feedback, and post-launch improvement, similar to software product management. Product managers in the physical world face challenges like validation, which involves market research, user testing, and data analysis to ensure product success.
Why thoughtful risk mitigation starts with user insight, not engineering specs.
Early validation is crucial for physical products due to the high investment required prior to launch. A cautionary tale highlights the importance of considering user willingness to pay, alternative costs, and market trends, and stresses the need for early validation to protect against startup killer mistakes.
The case of concept cars as they evolve from fantastical to realistic during the validation process. Manufacturers use these evolving designs to test market acceptance and refine features, balancing imagination with practicality and risk. Autonomous vehicle concepts illustrates this process, with technology and user needs shaping the final product.
Connected hardware products offer vendors the opportunity to provide enduring value to users through firmware updates and services, creating lasting relationships and increase life time revenue. This shift in business model, exemplified by companies like Tesla and Apple, enables vendors to generate significant revenue from services and user engagement. Product management plays a crucial role in identifying and capitalizing on these opportunities for product innovation and user-centric development.
Physical product validation is crucial due to the high costs and inflexibility of hardware development. Market need and positioning analysis are essential, followed by feature validation through mockups, prototypes, and user testing. This process helps identify and prioritize features, ensuring the product meets user needs and aligns with market demands.
Bonus posts
Plus, bonus reads on building user trust with visible feedback (hint: status LEDs matter!) and how some smart appliances might unlock entirely new business models.
Black box products, which lack visible feedback, can alienate users and make them doubt their value. To address this, product managers should incorporate indicators like status LEDs and reset buttons, providing users with reassurance that the product is functioning properly. These simple features can significantly enhance user experience and build trust in the product’s reliability.
Durable goods (AKA physical products) leaders must carefully evaluate competitive landscape, especially when existing software-based solutions exist. Software features, easy to implement and distribute at negligible cost, tend to render most standalone devices obsolete...
A cautionary tale.
Ever found yourself wandering through Moma, a sleek audioguide pressed to your ear, telling you about the artwork you're standing in front of? Did you wonder how it knew exactly which masterpiece had caught your attention? Let me introduce you to the humble ceiling-mounted infrared beacon – possibly the most important museum innovation you've never noticed.
iRobot, the pioneer of robotic mopping, faces financial struggle due to competition. Amazon's failed acquisition left it short in cash. What if the way out of the downward spiral was in building a marketplace around iRobot-Home, its control app, offering a range of home maintenance services and generating additional revenue streams?
Whether you're launching your first connected device or scaling a fleet of IoT-enabled products, this series is packed with actionable advice for succeeding in the physical world of product management.
Comments