Product Architect Post-Launch
Question: "How does Blackblot see the role of the Product Architect post-launch?As the product expert responsible for the PRD, the Product Architect is predominantly project-oriented. However, throughout the product lifecycle there are questions around what the product is technically capable of. Also, if post-launch the Product Architect moves on to the next project and a PRD involving a new product, who fills the role of 'technical product expert' on the older products?"
According to the Blackblot Product Manager's Toolkit® (PMTK) methodology, the Product Architect role is part of the Blackblot Product Definition Team Model and responsible for creating the Product Requirements Document (PRD).
Through the PRD, the Product Architect articulates the product's architectural and technical vision and structure, and specifies the product's components and interfaces which create the features that the market requirements prescribe.
The product's architectural and technical vision may change as technologies evolve and improve. For example, such technical changes which only affect the PRD of a product, but do not affect the MRD, are the replacement of rotary hard-drives with solid-state disks (SSD); or the integration of the new IPv6 internet protocol, to replace the aging IPv4 internet protocol, into software and hardware.
Accordingly, in the same manner that the Product Planner regularly maintains the Market Requirements Document (MRD) to reflect the ongoing changes in customers' needs, so will the Product Architect modify over time the product's technologies to create a more fitting and better solution.
All members of the Product Definition Team (which includes the Product Planner and the Product Architect) continue making their respective decisions throughout the product's life-cycle.