Hackaday

A short opinion piece arguing that rough, incomplete proof-of-concept projects can be more inspiring and impactful than polished finished products. Using a real-time 3D room-mapping demo with an ESP32 and VL53L5CX time-of-flight sensor as an example, the author highlights how interactive exploratory software, a good video demo, and deliberately leaving some possibilities open can 'nerd-snipe' others into building on the idea. The key traits of a good POC: bare minimum to convey the idea, demonstrates a wide range of possibilities, and leaves something tantalizingly unfinished.

In Praise Of The Proof Of Concept