Ali's 10-year Technician: seven ways of thinking of the leader

technology Leader It is a post with very high requirements for comprehensive quality , It is not only necessary to have the ability to solve specific technical problems , Also have the ability of team management , We need to have Lead The ability of the team to go through confusion and advance to the next level . So in general , technology Leader Most of the skills are the combination of virtual and real , Too much complicated work .

Think ahead , Push backwards

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： When thinking about a proposition, you can take a future perspective , First make a prediction about the future development , Then, based on your judgment, push back what should be done now , Finally, key milestones and rhythms are worked out .

This thinking model is often used in technology planning scenarios , However, it is a pity that many teams' technical planning is based on current problems and current resources , Then take the method of doing what you can to prioritize the items . This is not really planning , At best, it's a plan （ If it's not done well , Plans don't count , It can only be regarded as a list ）.

This thinking model has several key misconceptions ：

Dare not think forward , Worry about the wrong judgment about the future

I believe a lot Leader All have this fear , Will the team fail to get the results because of their lack of thinking and misjudgment . It is understandable that there is such a worry, but it is meaningless to promote the matter , because ：

1. Right up , Your information is more detailed ; Right , Your information is more comprehensive . If you can't make a good judgment about the future , How others can make judgments on your behalf . So be confident .

2. As long as your judgment is reasonable and logical , Be able to reach a consensus with everyone , That at least means that this judgment will not be too bad , It's also a good idea at present , It is not necessary to pursue absolute correctness , Besides, whether it is true or not is only known when it becomes history （ Sometimes history cannot answer this question ）.

3. The team is not always the most sure 、 The most correct thing , It is more important for the team to make a hole than to pursue philosophical correctness .

So we need to Leader Full exchange and sharing of information , Make reasonable judgments about the future with confidence , And reach consensus with relevant roles .

Only think forward , There is no backward push

I have also seen technical planning that only thinks forward but does not push back at all , This is a typical floating in the sky , A pile of metaphysical concepts . But in fact, the essence of this thinking model is the combination of backward pushing ：

1. Moving forward is, in a sense, an answer to to be（ What to make ） The problem of , But pushing back is actually an answer have（ What's going on right now ） as well as have to do（ What must be done ） The problem of .

2. to be It is to stimulate people's imagination , Let us all agree on our ideals , This is what motivates the team .

3. have as well as have to do In fact, I am looking for to be Between gap, seek gap Is to go further and find the solution , Is a further landing .

4. The combination of the two is the ideal way to find the future , We can also make progress in a pragmatic way . I think this is about looking up at the sky 、 Down to earth interpretation .

Target and path

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： Think about a proposition and focus on what is the goal 、 What is the path and the relationship between the target and the path . The goal of leaving the path is empty talk , The path away from the target is foolishness , So the goal and the path are one and two sides , Leaving any one without talking about it is not true .

Return to the scenario of technology planning , You can have a close look at , Many plans are goal oriented （ In fact, this has been done very well , Because everyone's consciousness has awakened , No goal, no further discussion , So no matter whether the goal setting is good or bad, at least there are ）, But few plans can explain the path clearly .

Although this thinking model is easy to understand , But the same , This thinking model also has some misunderstandings ：

Goals must be achieved

Leader They all have to bear the pressure of performance , So naturally there will be a misunderstanding that every goal must be completed meticulously . But a low value 100% A goal accomplished with a high value 90% Goals accomplished , Not necessarily 100% Get high performance when you finish , The key is to see the value contribution to the organization .

therefore Leader We should look at this problem dialectically , When setting goals, goals should have strong traction , It needs a team to jump to achieve , Let the team have fighting spirit ; When you accomplish your goals, you should also lead the team to strive forward , Try every means to get results towards high goals , But also observe the team status at any time , You can't do anything to achieve your goals or kill your team .

When the path is executed, it is carried by inertia

When refining the execution path of the target , We usually get more detailed ACTION, There will even be special personnel to manage and track these ACTION. But the most common deviation is , As we do it, we forget our original intention , Put the goal behind you . Typical is to follow the established route , We didn't look back at the goal based on the situation at that time , Find out if there is a better path . So always reflect on what is the purpose , What is the means , We should not take the means as the end and blindly implement .

End to end thinking

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： When thinking about a proposition, we should pay attention to the whole link as much as possible , Not the railway police .

This scenario is used for online problem management and optimization , Especially the problem of customer experience or the issue of efficiency improvement . This mode of thinking is also very simple , But there are also many misunderstandings ：

I didn't know where to go from end to end

It is very good to think and solve problems end-to-end , And you can understand what you want to do . But the biggest mistake of this thinking mode is that it only exists in everyone's mind , Instead of writing it down in black and white . The most typical scenario is this B Put forward end-to-end thinking to solve the problem of their own domain , but A Not carefully identified , As soon as I heard of end-to-end, I took it for granted that B It also solved A The problem of . But in fact, it is not the same thing to find out ,A Make complaints about it. B The promise was not fulfilled ,B Make complaints about A Nonsense .

In fact, it is very simple to crack this misunderstanding , Is to draw the whole process , Let's first reach an agreement on the process based on objective facts , And then circle the end-to-end segment in the process .

The effect does not state the assumptions

End to end, on the one hand, is to see the whole problem , On the other hand, we should focus on the overall delivery value . There is also a big misunderstanding about the overall delivery value of end-to-end —— The assumption is not clearly stated . Take end-to-end efficiency improvement as an example , To improve efficiency, we should clearly explain the business scope on which to do end-to-end efficiency improvement , And what effect can be achieved . A better way is to list the conditions clearly in the form of a table , Then give a clear performance conclusion of end-to-end efficiency improvement . There is no end to the matter of raising efficiency , As long as you can't 0 Investment must give certainty to efficiency . In the actual work scenario , People often worry that the uncertain efficiency has disrupted the original production plan , It is not necessary to deduct several person days to improve the efficiency .

Closed loop thinking

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： This is actually a very vivid logical thinking method , When thinking about a proposition, we should start from the original mind and return to the original mind , To avoid major deviations . This model is not complicated to understand , But there are also some misunderstandings ：

Metaphysical false closed loop

This is actually a lot Leader It is very easy to fall into the wrong zone , There is no analysis and Discussion on multiple links of the proposition , Pass this requirement to the team and ask for closed-loop thinking , That is, only management requirements but lack of technical leadership insight . Generally speaking , To disassemble a technical proposition, there are the following steps from the beginning to the landing ：

1. perceive / cognition （ Aware of existing platforms / System problems , I feel that I need to do architecture tuning and upgrading ）

2. Concept / principle （ Discover the essence behind the problem , From business / The concept and essence are extracted from the bottom of technical principles ）

3. understand / Consensus （ Explain the nature of the problem , Reach understanding and consensus from top to bottom ）

4. The goal is / route （ Put forward the target , Disassemble the implementable path ）

5. form / indicators （ Propose measurement indicators and specific action, It is best to follow up with a form ）

6. A small victory is a celebration （ Celebrate the achievement of milestones , Of course, this is also the key point to keep the business value ）

7. Follow up on （ A small victory is a celebration, and we can't relax our vigilance , Still need to continue to advance to the next task ）

8. Flexibility （ Adjust the priority according to the actual situation , Stick to the business value instead of sticking to the previous task table ）

9. The goal is achieved （ The standard is not the completion of new platform construction , It's a unified model 、 Traffic migration 、 Old code offline, etc ）

10. The next awareness （ Open the next platform / System architecture tuning and upgrading cycle ）

Many times we don't really think in a closed loop and follow up problems , For example, some nodes are missing , Or some nodes exit prematurely ： For example, many platforms are built in the 4 After the first step, let it develop freely , Lack of table tracking mechanism , The final effect is procrastination 、 Whet and haw can't get the result ; Another example , Many platforms will be handed over to others when they are finished , Follow up on serious problems , It will lead to inflexible adjustment and serious construction obstacles .

The next step of the advanced level is missing

Closed loop thinking in a sense should be said to be a spiral process of interlocking , In this way, we can continuously drive the next round of evolution . But many Leader Not well aware of this problem . With the above closed loop 10 Take steps as an example ,Leader It should start thinking about the next awareness when a small victory is celebrated , Starting the next round of thinking before the apex of the parabola can ensure that the next closed loop can be opened in time , Enter the spiral optimization process .

Quantitative thinking of indicators

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： There is no optimization without quantification , So when defining and promoting a proposition , Try to quantify the problems encountered in the way of data indicators .

alike , There are also some misunderstandings in this mode of thinking ：

Lack of quantitative dimension leads to lack of objectivity

The essence of quantification is actually coercion Leader More comprehensive 、 Understand the problem more objectively . But it still needs some skills to objectively define the problem through data , Otherwise you will fall into the heart of the answer 、 It's just a dilemma to prove through data . In particular, the larger the team, the more attention should be paid to this problem , Generally speaking , Any group of organizations has its own preferences , They also have the motivation and willingness to promote what the organization prefers . For example, technology makers tend to lead to architecture optimization , Business people tend to lead to completion KPI The direction of , But in fact, the more objective dimension should be to consider how to efficiently meet the value of customers .

How to break through this misunderstanding , The empirical thinking I get is the matching degree between the presented data dimension and the objective world , The higher, the more objective , The more objective it is, the more conducive it is to solving problems . Only by quantifying the data can we find a possible solution to this problem , Only then can there be a choice in the subsequent scheme selection , We can't put the cart before the horse because we have chosen the scheme and then use the data to demonstrate the rationality of the choice .

The deception of quantitative data after fault interpretation

The objective reflection of the data is only the first step , How to interpret the data determines the utilization value . Not afraid not to see the truth , I'm afraid I only see part of the truth , Improper interpretation will make us only see the part of the truth and draw wrong conclusions . For example, average your wealth with that of the richest man , The feeling is that the income of the whole people has soared .

Common data interpretation methods are as follows ：

1. High value VS Low value VS Average VS quantile ： You can see the actual distribution of the data .

2. Year on year and month on month ： You can see the development trend of data in each dimension .

3. overall situation VS Local ： After reading the overall indicators , Be sure to analyze local data of multiple dimensions . For example, after reading the national per capita income, we need to look at the data of each province , Even the data should be broken down into various industries .

4. Horizontal comparison of local data ： It can be compared and classified .

Data index quantification can be used in any scenario , But many people's trigger mechanism is not very sensitive , This thinking model is often forgotten , Many things are actually caused by feeling , Things that depend on feeling don't last long , Sometimes right and sometimes wrong . The more abstract and virtual the scene is, the easier it is to talk about feelings , The better time to practice , The next time you feel that the team is not in the right state , You can try to think about how to use the method of data indexing , See which dimensions of data can be quantified .

Story and image thinking

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： technology Leader When I explain my thinking to you , We should pay attention to the image thinking through the combination of stories , Try to explain the problem as clearly as possible , Let everyone understand . This is something that many technologists do not pay special attention to , They often think so ：

It is more important for a technician to be practical and able to work than to be able to talk , The former is the real hard core skill

This reflects the subconscious thoughts of many technical people , Especially the students at the bottom . But let us not forget that the essence of human cooperation is based on common imagination , If we can't explain clearly what we have to do , How to motivate people to do things together . As technology Leader It must be abandoned , Both technical and communication skills should be strong .

The professional has its own threshold , Why waste time and energy talking to people who don't understand

Many people hold this view , I think the major should have a certain sense of mystery , It gives people a feeling of ignorance . But in fact, the real specialty is to be simple , Explain complex things to others in plain English . Most of those who can't speak clearly are still half a bottle of water , Not really a major yet .

The best way to overcome these problems is to tell stories, such as this kind of visual thinking model , Actually PPT Relatively speaking, it is convenient to express complex thinking logic in the visual way of pictures . As for how to tell a good story, I think it's good to think about journey to the West ：

1. Determine initial center 、 Goal and meaning . Journey to the west is to learn from scriptures to help all living beings in the world .

2. There are many difficulties along the way , But we can always overcome difficulties without forgetting our original intention . Whether it's the contradiction between the master and the apprentice , Or to subdue demons and demons is to constantly encounter and overcome difficulties .

3. Visit the Buddha and get the Sutra , Spread to all living beings . After going through calamities, I got the Scripture , Then he went back to the eastern Tang Dynasty to preach to people all over the world .

technology Leader Build a platform in the leadership team / System time , You can also use this kind of story telling to motivate everyone . Of course, telling a good story is not only such a structure , But the essence of the original intention is to hope for technology Leader Be able to add visual thinking , By analogy 、 Let people deeply understand what you want to do through the story , Only in this way can we better make everyone work together towards the goal .

Multiplier effect

The meaning of this way of thinking is ： technology Leader When thinking about a technical proposition , Take full account of the impact of this matter , For example, some decisions may affect 10 personal , Some decisions may be made indirectly 100 people , This multiplier effect must be technical Leader To be considered carefully , The bigger Leader Pay more attention to .

Multiplier effect can be said to be a double-edged sword , A good multiplier effect can allow large teams to enjoy dividends , But bad events can also affect everyone . Therefore, there are the following practices ：

Top down decisions should be carefully reviewed , Fully consider the multiplier effect

As a team Leader Especially the second line TL, Be sure to consider the power of the multiplier effect when making some decisions （ Sometimes second-line Leader And the front line Leader The difference is in managing the multiplier effect ）, There are often two misunderstandings ：

1. The difficulty of implementation has not been fully estimated , Amplified by the multiplier effect . Many decisions seem quite right and valuable , But the starting point may be based on management needs rather than the necessity of front-line students' work . The problem with this is that it is too late to land , There are policies at the top and Countermeasures at the bottom .

2. The execution result is not CHECK, Actually, it is completely deviated . If Leader Too confident , There is no such closed-loop thinking method to follow up specific matters with multiplier effect , In the end, there will be a dilemma . Because most of them deviate, and it is impossible to move forward , But because there are too many sunk costs, I am reluctant to give up .

Actively manage the bottom-up multiplier effect

In order for the organization to flourish , We must encourage front-line students to give full play to the multiplier effect , So that the big team can enjoy the bonus . but Leader Be sure to actively identify and manage these matters with multiplier effect , We should correct and intervene the possible problems in time , The typical rectification is to prevent repeated construction and internal involution . But for those who really benefit the overall situation , To do a good job in timely promotion and take the initiative to help solve the obstacles in the promotion process , Let the big team enjoy the dividend as much as possible . But anyway , For this kind of multiplier effect, there must be a management list , Encourage innovation but make decisions carefully .

summary

technology Leader Is a set of architects 、 managers 、 A comprehensive position for a leader , After years of practice, I have only seen part of it . A little bit of thinking skill , It is impossible to solve all practical problems . I hope these thoughts will be helpful to everyone Leader There is some help .

author ： Zhiming , Senior technical expert of ant financial international business group , Technical director of global capital platform , Responsible for the settlement of underlying funds in the process of ant globalization 、 Establishment and iterative evolution of platform capabilities such as foreign exchange .

Ali 10 Annual technician ：Leader Of 7 A way of thinking