Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi could understand what Zheng Xiaoli meant.

Indeed.

When it comes to the projects at the top of the Internet industry pyramid, there is no doubt that Silicon Valley is the most powerful, with the top technology experts from around the world here.

But if it’s some mid-level projects…

That's not necessarily the case.

In the past ten years, Silicon Valley has been great; at this stage, overall, China and the United States are basically on par. Ziweixing is one of the best Internet companies in the country, so it is far above the average, and it is indeed better than Silicon Valley in many aspects.

As for the future, China will take the lead across the board.

Zheng Xiaoli is used to the domestic work model, so it is normal for her to dislike Silicon Valley, and she made a very sharp judgment: "The Internet does not need artists!"

"ah?"

Zhou Buqi was slightly startled.

Zheng Xiaoli said: "Different countries and different regions have different customs, religions and cultural habits. As you said before, if you want to make global products, you cannot rely on taste, demand, culture, fun and market trends. Attract users. Cultures are different, trends can change, and such a product will be limited everywhere.”

This is indeed the product idea that Zhou Buqi proposed before. He nodded, "Well, only human nature is common. The culture of each country is different, and the trends are different every year. If you rely on these to make products, it will be very difficult. It is difficult to achieve global and long-term popularization. Products must be developed based on human nature. To put it bluntly, it is pornography, gambling, and drugs, and it should be eliminated within the legal scope."

Zheng Xiaoli said with a smile: "This idea is great, but I think it is still not enough. It needs to be further subdivided. Artistry cannot be used in making products."

Zhou Buqi frowned slightly, "How do you understand this?"

Zheng Xiaoli said: "Product managers, designers and development engineers must put aside their pride."

"What?"

Zhou Buqi is even less understandable.

Xu Liangjie said with a smile: "Just give up subjectivity and base everything on objective standards. We must use data as the most important reference standard to develop products. Sometimes data can deceive people, but most of the time data is the truth of the objective real world." Reflect. Our product managers, design teams, and development engineers must surrender to the data.”

"Um."

Zhou Buqi was thoughtful.

This really involves the issue of dignity.

This is a "choose between two" between sticking to yourself and catering to the market.

It's like writing a novel.

Some writers are like data flow. When writing a certain section, they find that users don’t like it, and the number of subscriptions, recommendation votes, etc. have dropped, so they quickly stop, end the section immediately and jump to the next plot.

Even if the writer likes this plot very much and it is an inner expression of himself, he must obey the data and take orders from the data.

There is another type of author who doesn’t think so.

If you think the book is your own creation, why should you take orders from readers? Surrender to the data? Do you still want the character of a scholar? A writer should write something he wants to express, rather than writing something stereotyped that readers like. This is related to the writing dignity of a literati!

Under the two styles, the market feedback will be very different.

The former who succumb to data can often achieve better results, achieve great success in business, and are sought after by thousands of readers; the latter who insist on themselves may have a good reputation, and even some literary masters can write many works. Great works will be sacrificed in business, and many world-class writers will remain poor throughout their lives.

Which is more important, dignity or making money?

For a company, making money is of course more important!

Give up your ego and obey the data.

Only by compromising with the market and accepting feedback from objective reality can we develop products that are truly loved by users around the world.

But the disadvantages of this are also obvious...

Zheng Xiaoli said: "A top product manager or designer must be artistic and have a strong personality. This is what every product manager or designer hopes to be. But in becoming a great product manager Or in the process of being a designer, you need to constantly explore, experiment, and come up with various products for market verification. In this process, there will be extremely high trial and error costs."

"Relying on data rather than subjective judgment can solve this problem."

Zhou Buqi's heart and thoughts were immediately mobilized.

I think this is really a very profound and meaningful topic.

If this matter can be understood clearly, Ziweixing can find a convenient path with a higher success rate for future product development.

Many product designers have their own pursuits and persistence.

Just like designing a button for an app.

Is it square or round?

After experiments, it was found that if the button is designed to be square, the traffic conversion rate is 10%, and if the button is designed to be round, the traffic conversion rate is 5%.

The data is too precise.

Logically speaking, it should be designed in a square shape.

However, designers or product managers have their own understanding and preferences for a product. They just feel that square buttons will affect the overall aesthetics, make the product look clumsy and lose its artistry...

This creates a contradiction.

If the focus is mainly on the reflection of data, and the button is designed in a square shape... it will be a blow to the designer, subverting his product concept, and his self-judgment path will be blocked. How to grow? How could he move towards becoming a master step by step?

In the end, you can only become a slave to the data.

Just like an online literature editor.

In the early days when data applications were underdeveloped, what kind of books would be on the recommendation list would be judged by the editor's preferences and aesthetics. In this process, many mistakes will definitely occur, and many works that editors like are difficult to be recognized by users.

But the editor himself grew through trial and error.

Slowly, these editors have become the mainstay of online literature, a group of industry bosses who best understand the structure, rhythm and writing skills of online literature, and have a very high right to speak.

But later, the data was applied.

It is difficult for some editors who are new to the industry to fully recommend a work based on their subjective will. They do not have the authority to recommend it.

Everything is based on data.

At what level the data reaches, what kind of recommendations will be given. Even if it is a book that the editor hates very much, he must obey the data and make recommendations for it; even if it is a book that the editor likes very much, if the data is not in place, he cannot recommend it.

This becomes a slave to the data.

If the editors almost lose their judgment and thinking about the quality of a work, it will be difficult to grow. Seniors can step by step from small editors to senior editors with a voice in the industry. However, these editors are under the control of data, their business capabilities are growing slowly, and their careers will be very bleak.

Smart people can spot signs early and make timely adjustments or change careers. Editors who don't understand the truth will work in the industry for many years just for the slim chance of success, wasting the great period of learning and growth in the workplace during their youth, and their career path in life will be mediocre. melted.

Xu Liangjie said slowly: "Liberalism is prevalent here in the United States. The advantage is that innovation is very strong, but the disadvantage is that compliance is poor. Most product managers regard data as a reference. Between the data and their own subjective judgments, Make trade-offs.”

Zheng Xiaoli said coldly: "The company's money is not for them to use for trial and error! The cost of trial and error can only be used to test the product against the market, not for the trial and error of an employee's self-judgment. If the company works hard, After spending countless trial and error funds to train a designer, he then switches jobs to another company. How much loss will the company suffer? But if all the trial and error costs are spent on the product... product knowledge The property rights will always belong to Ziweixing, and the products will not change companies!”

Zhou Buqi took a deep breath and said, "This is your biggest dissatisfaction with this American team."

"Indeed." Zheng Xiaoli was helpless, "But we can't say this clearly, so we can only talk to them in circles from the perspective of work attitude and product ideas. The quality of data is the most important market for a product. Judgment. What I need is a data team!”