Product Architect
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Product Architect is the title of a role in engineering. The title is often incorrectly synonymous with Product Manager (a very broad and loosely defined role).
Product Architect is a tactical role that is owned by a product expert who creates a high-level design for the product. The “Product Architect” understands the market opportunity, interprets market requirements, and is well-versed in technology and development processes. The “Product Architect’s” main task is to devise a functional solution to the market problem according to the market requirements that are outlined in the Market Requirements Document (MRD).
The primary deliverable of the “Product Architect” is the Product Requirements Document (PRD), which is a high-level description of the functional solution, its intended use, and the set of features it provides that address the market problem and satisfy needs. Through the PRD, the “Product Architect” articulates the product’s architectural vision and structure, and specifies the product’s components and interfaces which create the features that the market requirements prescribe. The “Product Architect” contributes to other supporting documents including the product’s feature matrix, roadmap, and technical specification documents.
The prime goal of the “Product Architect” role is to have satisfied product developers. This means that the product’s design and its architecture are compatible with the company’s current internal development processes and technologies. Consequently, the product’s design and its architecture conform to the development team’s competencies, schedule, and technical quality demands.
The “Product Architect” must be able to communicate well with both external and internal organizations. External to the company, the “Product Architect” communicates and works with contract development firms, technology partners and customers. Internally, the “Product Architect” communicates and works with organizational functions such as Engineering, Product Marketing, and Product Planning. The “Product Architect” also acts as a communication interface between the product planning team and the engineering team.
The product planner works with other members of the “Product Definition Team”, notably the Product Planner.
[edit] See Also
- Product Management
- Product Manager
- Product Planning
- Product Planner
[edit] References
- Gabriel Steinhardt (2007). "Crafting Market Requirements" (PDF). 2.0. . Blackblot Retrieved on 2008.
- Gabriel Steinhardt (2007). "Product Definition Team" (PDF). 2.0. . Blackblot Retrieved on 2008.
