Customer samples: gate review pack

1. Purpose of the gate

Customer samples is the second of three sample milestones, and the three are best read in order. Engineering samples put validated early parts in the hands of a few lead customers. Customer samples, this gate, puts the revision that carries the fixes from their feedback in front of the wider customer base. Qualification samples, which follows, supplies parts built on the production flow for the supplier's own qualification and for customers who qualify the part themselves. All three come before the production release.

The step from lead customers to the wider base changes the risk. Lead customers work closely with the supplier, accept rough edges and talk directly to the engineers. The wider base, including customers reached through distribution partners, expects parts that behave as the datasheet says, documentation that answers their questions and support that responds. A sample release that is premature here reaches many more designs and is harder to recover from.

The product lifecycle sets four criteria: the sample revision carries the agreed fixes, or the open ones are listed as errata; the datasheet and errata are updated and issued with the samples; the sample allocation is agreed across customers and channel partners; and sample agreements and export checks are in place for every shipment. The customer sample release is the gating work product, and it is released rather than drafted: the revision, the documents and the allocation are fixed for this release.

The gate sits inside the Sampling span of the Product status, after engineering samples and before the design-in review. It gives the design-in review a broader base of evidence, since feedback and design wins from the wider customer base start to arrive from here.