# Ep. 46 - Deciding What to Work on Next

- Show: [Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast)
- Published: 2025-11-14
- Length: 1h 10m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next
- Listen: https://opulo.io

## Summary

Steven Hawes and Lucy Che Park of Opulo discuss their framework for prioritizing product development, emphasizing that customer interviews and community feedback are the primary inputs for deciding what to build next. They detail how they use the 'Three Machines' model (customer, product, and company) to categorize decisions, such as addressing support tickets, developing new features like wider feeders, or improving operational efficiency. The hosts highlight specific examples, including the decision to integrate community-sourced mods like the V3.1 update and the strategic pivot into the education market after observing unexpected university adoption. They also stress the importance of a clear mission—'helping people manufacture their products'—as a lens to filter out distractions and focus on the lowest-hanging fruit that aligns with their core goals.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=0) Introduction: The Challenge of Prioritization
- [3:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=215) Customer Interviews and Feedback Loops
- [15:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=957) Using Mission as a Decision Lens
- [23:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=1382) The Three Machines Framework
- [25:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=1530) Optimizing the Customer Machine
- [30:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=1820) Growing Reach and the Education Market
- [50:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=3029) Engineering Decisions: Requests vs. Silent Solutions
- [1:01:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/open-hardware-manufacturing-podcast/2025-11-14-ep-46-deciding-what-to-work-on-next#t=3712) Operations and Scaling Production

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Opulo (company)
- Lumen (product)
- Bill Hader (other)
- Death by Meeting (other)
- Brad Feld (other)
- Eisenhower Matrix (other)
- Prusa (company)
- Recon Tools (company)
- Digiki (company)
- Mouser (company)
- Arrow (company)
- Controllio (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [171: Choosing Features and Validating Your Invention](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2023-04-13-171-choosing-features-and-validating-your-invention) (Product Startup)
- [Product Development Driven By Customer Insights w/ Dan Adams](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2024-05-07-product-development-driven-by-customer-insights-w-dan-adams) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [077: Using Prospective Customers to Develop a Product](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-05-26-077-using-prospective-customers-to-develop-a-product) (Product Startup)
- [452: I Wish I’d Thought of That](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2024-08-23-452-i-wish-id-thought-of-that) (Making It)
- [137: Customer Feedback at Physical Product Launches](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-08-17-137-customer-feedback-at-physical-product-launches) (Product Startup)

## Citing this page

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