How do you plan out your electronics?

I seem to be in a majority of just making it up as I go along. I just like the creative feeling of this approach. Usually a bottom up design approach as well, start with the Nano and work outwards. I just enjoy the crazy freedom of it all. I used to have to be organised and on-time when I was working which I may now be rebelling against, so I really enjoy to just do whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it approach I now use. I don't always finish and it doesn't always work but I don't care, I just enjoy the process.

I have started trying to make 3D printed coverings for the projects I'm making now, which has restricted my chaos, but I enjoy the process of design to reality of the 3D printer. I use TinkerCAD and it can be used in the bottom up make-it-up -as-you-go-along method I like. One day, I might even get it right.

Dubbie

That's the big difference between a hobby and a job. With a hobby, the end goal is to enjoy the process and perhaps learn along the way. There's nothing wrong with abandoning a project, parking it because something more interesting came along, using the "wrong" tool because you wanted to learn to use that tool, etc. Your only deliverable is that you had fun in your free time. Of course, some of the fun is to be proud of something you finished too.

I like reading up as much as possible before starting a project. However, I wish I did that in other areas too. Also the actual work part of it reminds me of Agile. I should have used it for woodwork!

I spent several weeks (on and off) doing a seat-of-the-pants woodwork bit of fun project, using whatever I had in the shed, to make a bar-stool that converts into a table, and also as a book-tidy. It was to be a masterpiece 3-in-1 bit of furniture : )

I had no plan though, and didn't really design and test anything, so it was ad-hoc bits of thought as I went along with the construction.

However the reality was not great! I had not considered how the leaves would work.. since they don't fully fold and just hang down, in practice if anyone sits on it in the bar-stool mode, then the legs tend to press against the hinge edge of the leaf.. think it will cause the hinges to pull off over time : (

I should have prototyped up the bits I was unsure of, before getting too far in the construction : ( As it is, I cannot back out now, so the project has this fundamental flaw forever : (

I like reading up as much as possible before starting a project. However, I wish I did that in other areas too. Also the actual work part of it reminds me of Agile. I should have used it for woodwork!

I spent several weeks (on and off) doing a seat-of-the-pants woodwork bit of fun project, using whatever I had in the shed, to make a bar-stool that converts into a table, and also as a book-tidy. It was to be a masterpiece 3-in-1 bit of furniture : )

I had no plan though, and didn't really design and test anything, so it was ad-hoc bits of thought as I went along with the construction.

However the reality was not great! I had not considered how the leaves would work.. since they don't fully fold and just hang down, in practice if anyone sits on it in the bar-stool mode, then the legs tend to press against the hinge edge of the leaf.. think it will cause the hinges to pull off over time : (

I should have prototyped up the bits I was unsure of, before getting too far in the construction : ( As it is, I cannot back out now, so the project has this fundamental flaw forever : (

shabaz You have restored my faith in humanity.   I was thinking about your PlanetCatcher when I answered "Wing it" and just how for on the other side of the spectrum I am on my projects.

I like the stool.  People will learn to just spin it around so the hinge is in the rear.  Problem solved.  Or drink two beers and they won't care.