From how fast and saving to saving more quickly, is your project management on the right track?

In August 2021, the education and game sectors of ByteDance will have large-scale layoffs.
In August 2021, Tencent Microvision will optimize its personnel, and the proportion of layoffs will be as high as 70%.
In December 2021, iQIYI will lay off staff on a large scale, with a ratio as high as 20%-40%.
In November 2021, Kuaishou was reported on Maimai to lay off 30% of its staff.
In December 2021, Mogujie will lay off staff, the proportion is about 30%,
In January 2022, Pinduoduo was exposed to "dramatic" layoffs,
In March 2022, large Internet companies lay off staff and are on the hot search again...

In addition to those listed above, ByteDance, Youzan, etc. have also experienced layoffs. The Internet layoffs since 2021 are becoming more and more intense recently. In addition to the obvious reasons for streamlining business modules and provincial year-end awards, we may also make inferences. Another important reason behind it may also be that these big factories have stepped into the traditional thinking of project management-pursuing the order of more, faster, better and more economical.

When it comes to the goal of project management, the first thing that comes to mind is often "how to complete a thing quickly, efficiently, and economically", mostly project scope management, fast project time management, preferably project quality management, and project cost management. . Having said that, if you follow this sequence, you are likely to fall into the misunderstanding of project management.

The order of more, faster, better, and less is a cliché, but it's always been like this, right?

In the era of rapid development of the Internet, every enterprise wants to seize the wind, grasp the pulse of the times, and achieve "many" achievements. However, the development at this time often only focuses on "more" and "fast", never pays attention to what is delivered and what impact it will bring to society, ignoring the most fundamental factor of product value. However, after 20 years of development in my country's Internet industry, it can be said that the dividend period has passed as a whole, and the incremental market has turned to the stock market. Under this situation, even a few large manufacturers are unlikely to have incremental business that can grow rapidly. . When the pig that was blown up by the wind finally landed, the problem of blindly greed for more and faster and being covered up also emerged. Project management is no longer applicable.

In today's stock market, from the perspective of priority, "good" should undoubtedly be the first; then focus on delivery, and deliver high-quality products more "faster"; The management awareness of saving manpower and time; on the premise of completing the first three items, "more" will only be a natural objective result, not a goal that needs to be deliberately pursued.

Speaking of layoffs in big factories, this is the result of blindly pursuing "more" before: launching products quickly by adding people, working overtime, and adding money, "good" is done through a lot of publicity and packaging, flowers are decorated with brocade, After cooking oil on fire, I remembered the pursuit of "saving", so I began to shrink on a large scale. However, in the end, the consequences of pursuing "more, faster and better savings" have to be borne by each independent individual.

With the wrong thinking out of the way, let's take a look at the correct sequence of project management.

From how fast saves more to how fast saves more

Good: "Good" is the goal of doing things.

This "good" does not only refer to the inherent attributes of the product, such as excellent quality, no bugs, etc., but also includes the value to users and the value to society. For example, there are many products that attract attention to achieve the purpose of selling traffic. Their functions are very good, and the UI is very beautiful. However, most of the "value" generated is just trapping more and more people in the information flow. Amuse to death. Therefore, the "good" of project management must be a good thing, value first, and value delivery. Apart from the "good" value, several other items are just futile.

Valuable "goods" will stand the test of time, and Apple has single-handedly changed the world's mobile phone market, eliminating physical keyboards, multi-touch, swipe touch, voice operations, pressure-sensitive force feedback interfaces...and so on. Many features have been retained by smartphones to this day, and the Internet has also entered the era of mobile Internet.

Quick: "Quick" is the way of doing things.

Emphasizing fast is emphasizing that the purpose of doing things should be focused on delivery, focusing on delivering a good and valuable thing. In the VUCA era, in the face of complex and ever-changing market conditions, project management requires rapid response, rapid iteration, and rapid release. Such agility and flexibility are also a manifestation of "fast".

But in the final analysis, the premise of "fast" and several other items must be based on the goal of achieving "good". To a certain extent, it is necessary to restrain the urge to pursue time, and not just blindly seek "fast" and encourage growth. For example, blindly working overtime to alleviate the anxiety of falling behind the market will not only make the programmer's health deteriorate, but also occupy the employees' daily "charging" time, and the employees may even lose their ability to accept new things and think independently. More and more "advanced robots" are born, and innovation will inevitably become rare. In the long run, it will only fall into a vicious circle.

Province: "Province" means to have a certain sense of management.

Project management is not only about getting things done quickly, but also about coordinating resources, that is, maximizing the input-output ratio. The R&D team may be far from the market, cost, income, etc., but it also needs to have the awareness of focusing on efficiency and controlling costs. It is necessary to focus on the current business situation of the enterprise, carry out process improvement and engineering practice in project management, and use the same people to do more things, saving manpower and resources.

More: "More" is the objective result of doing the above three items well.

When it is done right, fast, and economical, the value added to the product will increase, and users, customers, market share, and profitability will naturally rise as the value of the product increases. "More" is by no means the goal of project management. Blindly seeking more is a manifestation of greed. The project only needs to complete the specified content, and the team does this iteration work according to the requirements, and there is no need to "golden it". If "more" is the goal, the project will never be finished.

The order of good, fast, economical, and more has its own internal logic. If you abandon the basics at the beginning, blindly pursue "more", and covet "fast", ignoring the most essential quality and value, you may be tempted to fail. For example, the so-called "customer first" principle of many companies is actually the "money first" principle that is unwilling to give up. In this way, rushing for money from the beginning is often counterproductive.

How to achieve "good, fast, save, and more"?

According to the above discussion, in order to achieve the objective result of "more", it is necessary to start from the first three items, exert efforts in quality management, time management and cost management, and achieve the natural result of "good" quality and "more" delivery.

Okay

1. Real-time monitoring of project progress, project planning and execution combined into one

From macro to micro, grasp the progress of the project. From company values to strategic goals, it gradually falls to product planning and specific practices, while rationally using software engineering practices and project management tools.

Through ZenTao, multi-level management of program sets, projects, products, and execution can be carried out; at the same time, various statistical reports can help management and project managers to understand project dynamics in real time, and make timely adjustments to problems and risks.

2. While focusing on short-term quality, do not ignore long-term quality

Short-term quality is easy to see and achieve, such as test left shift, unit test, test report, whether there are bugs after going online, etc. Long-term quality is easy to be ignored. Long-term quality refers to architectural shortcomings or technical defects that will gradually be exposed after two or three years, such as system scalability and flexibility, which do not affect the experience at the initial stage of launch. Long-term quality problems will greatly affect the sustainable development of the software. Large impact and needs to be avoided at the very beginning of the project.

quick

1. Leverage Agile Practices

Agile development came into being in response to the rapid changes in market demand and the accelerated delivery rhythm. It can be said that it perfectly fits the flexibility required by project management in the VUCA era.

You can improve efficiency and focus on value with the help of some specific methods of agile, as well as suitable project management tools.

For example, Scrum's daily stand-up meeting and Kanban's visualization are used to synchronize progress and reduce the excessively long cycle caused by opaque information. Extreme programming's collective ownership of code, code naming conventions, etc., can avoid repeated wheel building, enhance teamwork, and achieve the goals of high reuse and improved efficiency.

2. Introduce automation

Automation has emerged to reduce the manpower required for the activities of programmable systems, mechanical operations, with the aim of simplifying heavy, repetitive and complex work, making it more effective and efficient. In this way, resources, time and cost can be saved, and the freed manpower can focus on the more valuable and high-quality "good" part of the work.

Automated testing converts the steps that manual testing needs to follow into repeatable scripts, making it easier to complete large-scale, engineered testing.

Province

1. Strictly follow the "fast" engineering practice

"Province" means saving time, resources and manpower in project management. It can be seen that "saving" is inseparable from the above-mentioned "fast". By following engineering practices such as agility and automation, and achieving the goal of focusing on value and improving efficiency, resources such as cost and time will naturally be saved.

2. Have a certain business awareness

The main force of project management in software R&D is often the R&D team. The R&D team may be far away from the market, cost, income, etc., and it is easy to ignore related aspects such as cost and operation. Amoeba management can establish the connection between each team and the market, and through independent accounting and split award transactions, each member can give full play to their potential enthusiasm and realize the "full participation" business mode. Each member regards himself as the operator of the team, and will consciously improve efficiency and reduce costs.

More, is the objective result of fast and economical. Good, fast, and economical are all done, the quality is guaranteed, the efficiency is improved, and the value added to the product will be more and more; the cost will be saved, the profit will increase, and the accumulated users and profits will also increase. more.

It's time for your project management to change from the extensive and savage growth of fast and economical to the fast and economical of high-quality sustainable development!