Longevity-First Design

Longevity-First Design

When Your Five-Year Plan Ignored the Fifty-Year Waste Stream

A few years back, I sat in a room with twelve engineers planning a new smart thermostat. The timeline was tight: prototype in six month, retail in eig...

Longevity-First Design

When Your Product's Warranty Expires Before Its Material Does

You buy a stainless steel water bottle advertised to last a lifetime. Five years later, the lid hinge snaps. You check the warranty: two years. The bo...