The questions that determine whether a program succeeds.
These are not theoretical strategy questions. They typically appear when a company is close to committing budget, engineering capacity, certification effort, supplier selection or customer promises.
- 01
Are we building the right product for the right market?
A strong system addressed at the wrong segment fails commercially. Product–market fit must be validated before architecture is locked.
- 02
Is our electric propulsion architecture viable?
Architecture choices determine cost, performance, and certification path. Reversing them mid-program is rarely economical.
- 03
Are we over- or under-sizing our battery system?
Sizing must be derived from mission profile and ageing assumptions, not from headline specifications or supplier defaults.
- 04
What are the real certification constraints?
Standards translate into hard system requirements. Identifying them late forces redesign — not paperwork.
- 05
Are we choosing the right battery supplier?
Supplier selection is a multi-year commitment on chemistry, format, roadmap, and industrial capacity. The decision deserves the same rigour as architecture.
- 06
How do we prioritize development efforts?
Not every feature, variant, or market deserves engineering capacity. Prioritization frameworks turn ambition into sequenced delivery.
- 07
We have several attractive product directions, but limited engineering capacity.
Prioritization under finite R&D capacity is itself a strategic decision. The opportunity cost of pursuing every option in parallel is rarely modelled honestly.
- 08
The market wants a solution, but the physics and certification constraints may not close.
Commercial pull does not guarantee a feasible system. Mass, thermal, ageing and certification envelopes must be checked before resources are committed.
- 09
We need a roadmap decision that can be defended to the CEO, CTO, board, sales team and engineering team.
The decision must be traceable. Assumptions, filters and rationale must survive cross-functional scrutiny — not only convince a single stakeholder.