Building a laser for a scientific research facility - without a playbook
summary
Built a 20 m pulse laser delivering 10 Hz 10 ns 100 J pulses (~10 GW peak) for a £10M UK→Prague installation, with a control system tying cameras, PLCs, motor controllers and servers into an IoT-like network. Value practices: lab access column & story map to test outcomes, cross‑functional engineers crawling under the machine, and fast prototypes. Two quick wins (one‑week Raspberry Pi ceiling monitors) succeed and scale; a six‑month automatic beam‑steering prototype fails in situ. The lesson: test cheap hypotheses early, then industrialize working solutions.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Building a powerful laser
- 3:11Laser project complexity
- 10:17Hardware and software uncertainty
- 13:45Kanban board for work
- 17:18Story mapping for strategy
- 19:02Cross-functional team
- 21:53Doctor versus waiter mindset
- 23:37Prototyping camera monitors
- 25:44Failure of beam steering
- 30:42Three development approaches
- 33:12Value-driven development
- 36:05Conclusion
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