August

• Have periodic meetings with your sponsor about the system requirements.
  • Get them cleared up ASAP. This way you know what to shop for.
• Begin parts shopping for major parts in your potential PCB. Make sure these major parts serve in completing your system requirements
  • If these major components have something called an evaluation module, you should buy one at this time. Procurement Office is arguably one of the biggest time-adders so make sure Procurement Lead presses them on lead times and verifying that parts are ordered. - Definition: An evaluation module contains the chip you're interested in on a reference design from the manufacturer. It also contains testing points, screw terminals, and other interfacing capabilities that let you test whether that major component will work for you and your system requirements.
• If an evaluation module is not available, pick up major components you're interested in at this time even if you're not sure you're going to use them. You'll be able to breadboard with these major components later on