# S5E42 Brad Hirayama | How to Accelerate the Speed of Engineering, Episode 6

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2024-10-18
- Length: 57m
- Episode: 42
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6

## Summary

Brad Hirayama, a Staff Engineer at Synaptic Medical with prior experience at Abbott and NuVera Medical, discusses accelerating engineering speed through robust planning, psychological safety, and strategic tool adoption. He emphasizes that 'slow is smooth and smooth is fast,' advocating for upfront risk identification and using checklists like FDA design controls to prevent scope creep. Hirayama highlights the importance of building trust with niche suppliers to mitigate external risks and shares lessons from a failed PDM rollout where insufficient training for non-engineering teams caused delays. Finally, he recommends tools like Notion for centralized information access and Loom for efficient communication to maintain team momentum.

## Chapters

- [0:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=3) Introduction: Brad Hirayama and Synaptic Medical
- [4:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=242) Planning and the 'Slow is Smooth' Philosophy
- [9:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=546) Balancing Problem-Solving and Asking for Help
- [14:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=890) The Role of Checklists and FDA Design Controls
- [19:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=1183) Leadership, Culture, and Psychological Safety
- [27:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=1663) Using Notion and Loom for Speed to Information
- [34:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=2057) Risk Management and Supplier Relationships
- [41:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2024-10-18-s5e42-brad-hirayama-how-to-accelerate-the-speed-of-engineering-episode-6#t=2498) Lessons from a Failed PDM Implementation

## Topics

- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)
- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Synaptic Medical (company)
- Abbott (company)
- NuVera Medical (company)
- Johnson and Johnson (company)
- Notion (tool)
- Loom (tool)
- SolidWorks PDM (tool)
- SharePoint (tool)
- The Checklist Manifesto (other)
- Atul Gawande (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [How Soft Skills Drive High-Impact Engineering Teams w/ Aaron Moncur](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2025-08-26-how-soft-skills-drive-high-impact-engineering-teams-w-aaron-moncur) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [How to Speed Up Safety Critical Processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-07-27-how-to-speed-up-safety-critical-processes) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Ep. 12: Why Robotics Teams Lose Momentum Before They Ever Ship | The Robo Success Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robo-success-podcast/2026-07-14-ep-12-why-robotics-teams-lose-momentum-before-they-ever-ship-the-robo-success-po) (The Robo Success Podcast)
- [5 Actionable Lessons Learned from the RADx Initiative by NIH](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2021-01-27-5-actionable-lessons-learned-from-the-radx-initiative-by-nih) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [#010 - How to think like Elon Musk - Scrum for Hardware, with Joe Justice of WIKISPEED and Scrum Inc, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-01-25-010-how-to-think-like-elon-musk-scrum-for-hardware-with-joe-justice-of-wikispeed) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)

## Citing this page

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