Navigation structure reflects PRD hierarchy
Why it matters
Navigation is the primary map users carry in their heads of how your product is organized. When the sidebar, navbar, or routing hierarchy fails to reflect the information architecture described in the PRD — sections missing, features buried under the wrong parent, URL structure contradicting the product's mental model — users cannot find features that actually exist, support volume rises around 'where is X?' questions, and first-session retention drops because the product feels smaller or more confusing than it is. Discoverability failures of this kind also undermine SEO and accessibility landmarks by misrepresenting page hierarchy to crawlers and screen readers.
Severity rationale
High because a mismatched navigation hides shipped features from users and distorts the product's mental model, though it does not strictly block a determined user from reaching functionality via direct URLs.
Remediation
Edit your primary navigation component (commonly src/components/nav.tsx, src/components/sidebar.tsx, or the nav block inside src/app/layout.tsx) to expose every top-level section the PRD describes, using the ordering and grouping it specifies:
// src/components/nav.tsx
export const NAV_ITEMS = [
{ href: '/dashboard', label: 'Dashboard' },
{ href: '/projects', label: 'Projects' },
{ href: '/analytics', label: 'Analytics' },
];
Align your URL hierarchy with these groupings so routing communicates the same structure.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the Goal Alignment Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from goal-alignment·automated