Architects and Product Managers 1 Introduction On January 1, 2022, the construction industry entered the hardest year of the past decade, but also the easiest year of the next decade. As an entry-level architect who has worked for three years (maybe not even in the door), under the reality of the increasingly depressed environment, I have to think about myself and the industry. In this context, I read "Everyone is a Product Manager" and read a lot of articles about product managers, and found that architecture and product managers have many things in common, and many concepts in the process of architectural design can be extended to In the process of making products, the product thinking of product managers is also worth learning by architects.
What is architecture Architecture is a structure that accommodates human activities, and it is also a place where human activities take place.
Architecture studies not only the building itself, but also the study of people's requirements for buildings and how their needs are met. The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius wrote in his "Ten Books of Architecture" that the three elements of architecture are: sturdiness, practicality, and beauty. These three elements are still the basic principles that architects follow today.
What is an architect The architect realizes the construction of the building in terms of technology, economy, function and shape through cooperation with the project investor and construction party. Literally, the architect is the designer of the building and the secondary construction of the space. In the process of architectural design, architects often play the role of coordinating the overall situation. On the one hand, the architect controls the overall function, shape and details of the building, and on the other hand, the overall coordination of various disciplines such as structure, water, electricity and HVAC is carried out. , to ensure the smooth landing of the building. Therefore, the architect is responsible for the building itself. At the same time, Party A evaluates and provides feedback on the design, and the architect revises and optimizes according to the needs and opinions. This is the content of the architect's work.
What is the product Baidu Encyclopedia wrote: Product refers to anything that people use and consume and can satisfy people's needs, including tangible items, intangible services, organizations and concepts, or their combinations. From this, it can be seen that the product has two important elements: users and needs. A product is essentially a solution to a need, and its value is measured by users.
What is a Product Manager Just as architects don't just design buildings, product managers don't just design products, they also need to capture and analyze product requirements, develop and implement, optimize and iterate, and operate and maintain. From this perspective, architects and product managers have something in common. However, there are many differences in the description of the responsibilities of product managers, and the roles assumed by different industries and companies are also very different. Therefore, it is difficult to define what a product manager is. But one thing is certain, product managers serve users. Responsible for the entire life cycle of the product.
Similarities and differences between buildings and products Architecture is a place to meet people's living needs. In essence, it is a product. For different activity scenarios, the types of buildings are also complex. A simple classification of buildings and products follows.
6.1 Commonality of Requirements Architectural Classification
Kind of demand type of building live residential building Consumption Commercial Building Art exhibition building Production industrial building … … product category
Kind of demand Product Category comminicate social product Consumption shopping products entertainment Audio and video products game game product … … It can be seen from this that demand is one of the factors that determines the type of construction or product. The two are essentially common, and the existence value of construction or product is to meet the demand.
6.2 Commonalities of the Design Process The design process of a building can be summarized as: architectural design process
The product design process can be summarized as: product design process
Roughly speaking, both can be summed up as:
Pre-research and analysis - concept design - landing design - post-maintenance
Both are the role of taking a certain "object" as the research object to solve some specific problems. Both are other-centred, or "empathy." In the preliminary analysis, the design of the building needs to start from the environment and event scenes, and propose the urban positioning of the building and the target group (what role does it play in the city and what space does it bring to human beings), which is consistent with the thinking logic of the product. The design of residential/commercial buildings also needs to analyze the competing products in the surrounding environment, identify their own positioning, and create unique highlights in order to stand out among many homogeneous buildings, and the same is true for the products themselves. In the process of architectural design, it is often necessary to communicate adequately internally with relevant majors such as structure, water and electricity, HVAC, and externally, and communicate with Party A and the government (for old renovation projects, it also needs to communicate with the aborigines). In the design process, product managers also need to communicate with technology, operations, and design. From this perspective, neither building nor product can be completed by one role, but need to give full play to the strength of the team. 6.3 Differences between buildings and products Building is 0→1, product is 0→1→n
From design to completion, the function of the building has basically been fixed, and even if it is renovated and expanded, the spatial scope of its radiation is limited.
After the product is born, more functions can be achieved through iterative updates, thereby attracting more users, and its influence and changes in lifestyle are immeasurable (such as WeChat from a basic social tool to now WeChat Pay, WeChat small program).
The degree of homogeneity of the building is lower than that of the product
Due to the different land conditions and local regulations, it is difficult for the buildings of the same real estate to be completely consistent, and the highly standardized products are basically aimed at B-end customers (a Guiyuan, a university, etc.). Different companies' products target the same users, and the main functions of the products can be almost the same (search engine, takeaway platform, live broadcast platform, etc.). Buildings and products have different life cycles
Buildings have a limited life cycle, and the end is usually renovation, maintenance or demolition (monumental buildings are often maintenance due to their social image and spiritual support). A product can have infinite life if it is constantly updated and iterated according to the needs of users. Regulations and codes of construction vary from product to product
Because the building itself is closely related to safety and social issues, so many related departments (such as fire department, planning department, education department, transportation department, etc.) are involved in the design process, which leads to the building more towards the government level tilt. The regulatory policy that the product is subject to is related to its own type, so the product is more centered on user needs. The project cycle of construction tends to be longer than the product
It usually takes 2-5 years for a building to take 2-5 years from land acquisition to design to completion to user feedback, and there are too many constraints. When the underlying technology and the Internet environment are stable, a product can often be born within a few months. Architecture can exist apart from its actual function
Because of the artistic value of architecture itself, a building can have no function, it can be a carrier of spiritual needs (such as a monumental building), and whether a product can exist independently of its function, I think it is not established. 7. The Product Capability of the Architect Continuous learning, lifelong learning, is a must-have capability for both careers. Architecture is also a profession that speaks logic, and the logic of products is exactly what architects need. Architecture itself is a product, and architects also need to cultivate their own product thinking and use product tools to achieve a more reasonable design process for buildings. Just like products, there is no single solution to architectural design, but to find better solutions in many problems. The first step in dealing with a problem is to "figure out the problem, and then choose a method", rather than trying to solve it directly. Listen carefully, but don't follow it. This is what Su Jie mentioned in "Everyone is a Product Manager". The same is true for architects. It is necessary to understand the core reasons behind the needs of customers, rather than follow the superficial requirements. To carry out design, this is especially common in the communication of Party A, architects need to discover what is the logic of the requirements put forward by Party A, and improve their own thinking ability.