What is Product Architecture?
Product architecture is the organization of a product’s functional elements such as features and functions and relationship between them. Having nothing to do with the physical design of the product, product architecture is rather a set of block diagrams. In this sense, it can be called a mapping tool for product design and R&D projects.
Types of Product Architecture
There are two major types of product architecture:
- Modular architecture focuses on the relationship between particular functions and features required to make the final product purpose. It views each component as a self-contained module with a specific function, and a compilation of such modules defines the product’s objective. Modular design makes dependencies between features more visible, so it is useful for rectification and error management, ultimately making a more refined product.
- Integral architecture, on the contrary, focuses on the inner workings of each feature, its function and purpose only briefly covering the relationships between separate features. In integral architecture, components are designed and adapted for a specific product, and functions can be shared between several elements. Integral design allows cutting product costs by optimizing the system and improving the performance.
How to Create a Product Architecture
Creating a product architecture is a rather straightforward process:
Step 1. Create a schematic of the future product or a block diagram of the product features to understand which features must be included.
Step 2. Group elements and features in the schematic based on their likeness and on how much they interact.
Step 3. Create a geometric layout of the elements that will represent functions, paths, flows and patterns in the product. This is the structure of the product architecture.
Step 4. Finally, connect elements with lines showing if and how they interact between themselves.
Product Architecture Benefits
Product architecture is an important step towards product design and development that visualizes core elements of the product and their interactions.
- It indicates unnecessary elements and irrelevant functions which allows cutting costs and simplifying the product design.
- It reveals possible overlapping between features making the design sleeker.
- It improves the product’s functional performance.
- It makes it possible to replace a module without fully altering the product, which is useful for product customization, upgrading and scaling.
- It helps develop more sustainable products with a longer lifespan.
In this way, product architecture shapes the final product design and organizes the team activities around product development and optimization.
