During which phase of a project is the architecture of a product usually proven?

The architecture of a product is typically proven during the construction phase. This is the stage where the team takes the foundational work completed during the earlier phases—particularly the elaboration phase, where the architecture is initially defined—and begins to develop the actual product.

During construction, the development team builds functional components and features based on the established architecture. This is critical because it is at this point that the architecture is tested against real-world scenarios, validating its effectiveness and performance. If issues or limitations arise during this phase, adjustments can be made to the architecture before moving on to the later stages of the project, ensuring that the final product meets the desired quality and functionality.

While the inception phase focuses on understanding the project scope and requirements and the elaboration phase aims to flesh out the architecture and design, it is primarily during the construction phase that the architecture is truly put to the test through practical implementation. The transition phase involves deploying the product and preparing it for release, which assumes that the architecture has already been successfully validated in the construction phase.