When designing hardware (and software), it’s tempting to dive into a project without sufficient planning. The designer in all of us likes the gratification that comes with engineering our next big idea. The closer we get to finishing the design, the closer it is to being in our hands, and the closer we are to applying power to it, debugging it, and sharing it with the world. Simple, right?

Engineers promote modularity and code reuse when developing software, writing FPGA code, and designing hardware. Even modern EDA software packages take advantage of reusable modules at the schematic capture and PCB layout stages. Often, functional reuse is encouraged to reduce the design phase of a product and achieve faster time-to-market.

But the world of engineering is not limited to design. Design teams must also consider procurement and operations. Modularity can be crucial well after the product is designed and fielded to customers. This is not without its tradeoffs.