Zhou: My two puzzles in old Zhou

Note: This paper is from the island "decision reference" (July). Old week talked about their two puzzles, first to do products or first talk about feelings, the second is to improve product experience, is to do or cultivate people to do?

Q: To count the number of Chinese entrepreneurial product manager, it should be Zhou 祎.

Zhou: I'm so flattered. I have also been confused recently, and the three views have been reversed. In the past we talk about what the first product, you need to do according to user needs to do products, in the experience to do the ultimate, in the product experience on the basis of emotional identity or identity to talk about feelings, right? But recently many people, someone else first to do marketing, first to do emotional identity, completely reversed, fans are products, It doesn't matter what product you give to the user. Including the recent Rough selling mooncakes, I wonder if this is one-off or sustainable? For example, Hammer phone, the first time to do a product has many shortcomings, when the user's expectations to hang high, these shortcomings by feelings can overcome it?

Q: What do you think about Internet companies doing "open platforms" today?

Zhou: Most of the time it's often lookers-on. Expansion is entrepreneurial instinct, but you ask yourself three questions: Are you right to meet the needs of your users? Can you dig deeper? Can the user form a very strong stickiness? Two days ago I read a story about the Lego revival, after watching the feeling, Lego losses have done a lot of things, film or something, Then back to the building blocks of the main industry, but do a good job, so say or to grasp the core.

Such mistakes are especially easy to make, including ourselves sometimes. When the company is small, you do not have much appeal, want to live, can only consider the user, the enterprise after big, even if do not please the user's matter, users have to endure it? or think of some messy, diverse things, short-term bring no benefits to users, no real value creation. From this point Zhangxiaolong really very good, little dragon if is a working mentality, the boss any instructions should be implemented, that today micro-letter can not be used, Tencent would like to 100 departments are in the micro-letter occupies an important position. But Zhangxiaolong has played the role of a defender, which I think is the most valuable.

Q: What's the most important thing about being a good product manager?

Zhou: Empathy, compassion, empathy is the most important thing. If a product is fully user-ruled, sometimes users will be led crooked. Many other users don't know what they want. Jobs said he was against focus groups, many people mistakenly think that jobs look down on users, do not do any user survey, in fact, jobs is insisting on user letters and user forums, once a person scolded him, he returned to the mail to scold that person. After collecting user feedback, try to figure out what's behind the user's feedback, plus your own empathy as a product manager.

Why do you want to think like little white? One of the most valuable things about white is to maintain a particularly sharp sensibility. Ordinary people go to a restaurant to eat, found that there is a fly in the dish, be sure to lift the table, so I think how to turn this unconscious feedback into a conscious experience, then you start to ponder the product, you will be old to feel as a little white how to think.

Many product managers because they are not small white, there will be problems, such as you are now an Enterprise Manager, or a computer software experts, because of experience, often not experience ordinary ideas. The other thing is strange, our company is always in this situation, in the face of their unfamiliar areas, he has the power to experience users, once you appoint him as the product manager of this matter, he will suddenly feel that this is the boss to my task, I want to do a product to teach users, he has not been able to think like small white.

So the leader should play a role, not product manager, but play the role of a challenger, keep beginner, just like an ordinary user, the enterprise must have someone to play this role. If said 360 past achieved a little results, plainly make products which are so difficult, you as long as the ordinary user as well as a good use of products, you can see a lot of problems.

Q: How much energy and spirit are you using to actually use the product and product experience?

Zhou: Theoretically I should go all out, but in fact the company more than 7000 people, bring two problems, one is ineffective working time is indeed more, everything is a good reason to look at, but finally occupy a lot of time. Second, the company line of business after many, in each line of business energy will be dispersed. Frankly speaking, in the last year or two, I am not satisfied with the status of the product, self-reflection, is the mentality of the problem? The actual or not enough energy.

In addition I have a question more puzzled, oneself should Shidi, or cultivate people to let others do? If I Shidi, many product experience improvements will be very fast, but this will lead to two problems: first, a lot of things I can not take care of, and I became a driver. The other way is to cultivate people, I also cultivate, but it really takes time, I also tangle, employing will have to intolerant, I do products for almost 20 years, like a person who played 20 years of boxing, a punch out very powerful, but you take a only one year's apprentice, you give him more of the mantra, put the horse stance, waist to the right, It was a matter of skill that he was still buoyant.

You see Apple has only one product, iOS as the core, from the ipod to the iphone to the ipad, and Microsoft is said to have more than 500 products, from the keyboard mouse, Xbox, Office, Windows and so on, so why Apple finally came out, Apple has only one product, Jobs Shidi. Of course, in some ways, Ballmer did a good job, Microsoft did not have 500 jobs, none, and Microsoft was working. There are two different ways, which way should we choose?