The bad things in operation: a lot of nonsense and bitter tears

Compared with other positions, the job of " operation " is still very young, with a history of only more than 20 years at most. Compared with its close relative, the job of "marketing", it is still "infant". Therefore, it is certainly a good thing to have more talented people join the operations team and jointly improve the "industry status" of operations. However, if you do not look at this position objectively, and throw yourself into it with full enthusiasm and idealism, then you will end up losing both the wife and the army.

Therefore, in this article, I have to pour a bucket of cold water to give you a more rational understanding of the actual situation of the current industry operations.

Operational work is far from elegant, which has both objective and subjective factors.

Objectively speaking, operational work items are full of "detailed" user work: there are many seemingly low-value but unavoidable "repetitive manual" tasks, such as editing documents, recording user behavior, replying to users in large numbers, going out with roll-up banners and flyers to attract people... and so on.

In addition, operations is the central department for cross-departmental collaboration, so naturally there is endless "dealing with people" work, which will inevitably lead to some conflicts of interest. There is a saying that goes “where there are people, there are rivers and lakes”, which shows the high skills and emotional intelligence required to communicate with others. However, our contemporary education tends to "emphasize IQ over EQ" and lacks systematic rational training of "dealing with things rather than people", which makes communication and coordination of resources even more difficult.

If objective factors have already made you ashamed, don't worry, because what follows will be even more tragic. Using the "80/20 rule" as an analogy, among the factors that make operations difficult, objective factors are only the "2", while subjective factors are the "8".

History tells us that any new thing will inevitably go through a process from chaos to obscurity to gradual clarity and order. Internet operators in their twenties are just like developing teenagers, who are in a stage where their worldview is in chaos.

Below, the author briefly summarizes the five main types of "bad things" that exist in operations work.

1. The operational philosophy is not understood by senior management

The boss’s understanding of operations determines the position of operations in the company. Well, I would like to take this opportunity to complain that the biggest lie of this century may be "respect knowledge and respect talents." The current level of overall "misunderstanding" of operations in the industry is simply embarrassing: there are many people who think that operations have a low threshold, do not require professional skills, or even people who cannot find a job can do operations.

Operation is a job that requires a "sense of rhythm" and "careful care of users". If the operation concept is not understood by the boss, on the one hand, the advancement of the operation work will be completely disrupted due to the lack of support from the boss. On the other hand, it is very likely to commit the foolish behavior of "killing the chicken to get the eggs" for the users.

Of course, the most painful thing is still at the end - you still have to bear all the consequences.

The lack of understanding of operational concepts by senior management may be the root cause of the difficulties in operational work.

Of course, as the saying goes, make the best of it. If this kind of hardship were to happen, I absolutely would not approve of the impulsive behavior of quitting my job at will.

So, what should we do if we encounter this situation?

Suggestions that are not really suggestions: Don't confront him directly. Instead, give him several options, including his ideas. Then, based on your operational expertise, tell him in advance the approximate results, advantages and disadvantages of each option. Finally, let him choose the option. This cleverly puts the responsibility back on him (if you're lucky). After several times of running-in, prove your professionalism through data results, slowly build trust, and thus gain real "operational rights."
2. The goal is unreliable and the boss is just talking

Some bosses may agree with you on the operational ideas, but it is always difficult to reach an agreement on the operational indicators.

From the boss's perspective, he certainly hopes that the indicators are as high as possible, under the pretext of stimulating the team's potential.

From a rational point of view, if you can achieve 100 points by going all out, then it is reasonable to set a target of 120 points. But in reality, many bosses often set the score at 100 and then add a zero. Perhaps the boss thinks that the team can get a score of around 800 points. Although there is a saying that "there is always a brave man under a lot of money", there is no "big money" but there is "heavy pressure", and the only way under the heavy pressure is to run away.

Even if the operations team is willing to bite the bullet and take on an unattainable goal, the "goal" will completely lose its value as an operational direction and as an incentive.

Suggestions that are not really suggestions: The general idea is "present data and negotiate terms." If there are similar competing products, we can reversely deduce a more reasonable high-expected target data from the promotion time of the competing products. If it is a brand new product with no competing products, we can start with the market capacity: for example, a product targeting high-income young mothers, we can roughly estimate the approximate number of such groups in a certain city, and then finalize a reasonable user growth plan with the boss.
3. Carrying the indicators but not the corresponding rights

The operational ideas are fine, and the indicators are finalized, but in the process of advancing the operation, you will deeply understand what it means to "beg for help from everyone, and lick the boots of all departments without distinction", and what it means to "not take the road to heaven":

When you need the product development department to help launch some functions to promote operations and communication (for example, share with friends and both parties will get red envelopes), the product side will prioritize the needs for various reasons;

Or maybe you need a budget to hold an event, but the higher-ups are slow to approve it, and even if they do approve it, you still have to recruit people and resources from everywhere, and the whole process is as complicated and inefficient as the "relevant departments";

What's more, in the content operation within the product, it is still necessary to go through product approval at every turn before it can pass (there really are companies with such weak operations).

How to promote operations?

Suggestions that are not really suggestions: This problem is actually the root cause of neglecting to "negotiate conditions" with the boss when setting goals. When setting goals, the accompanying resource conditions should be made clear: for example, whether product development resources can be used first, how much budget is needed for activities, etc. No resources available? Sorry, this indicator has to be cut... (The result may be just a perfunctory reply from the boss... Well, at least he can know that operations work is not that simple)

4. I will take the blame and you will receive the military honors .<br />At first glance, do you think this is a "bad thing" that may happen in all positions? Of course, special emphasis is placed here on the delicate interest relationship with other departments.

For products that do not touch the user's pain points, no matter how good the operational capabilities are, the data will not look good. After all, today's 2C users have been educated to be very "rational" by the market, and basically will not consider downloading or registering for products without characteristics. (The apps that we are lucky enough to get on our phones are just a drop in the ocean…)

Once the number of users is not met and internal strife arises, the "other departments" will naturally shift the blame to operations, especially in companies with "strong technology and weak operations", where operations basically has no room for resistance.

In addition, even if the number of users increases, it is not ruled out that in companies with weak operations, most of the credit will be taken by "other departments"... In short, this is a sensitive area.

Suggestions that are not really suggestions: Frankly speaking, this problem cannot be solved unilaterally by operations, and generally requires pushing senior management to handle it. One suggestion is to put operations and "relevant departments" in one organizational structure, led directly by a senior executive, to transform external conflicts into internal conflicts. Another way is for the two buddies to find a place to have a meal privately, have a good talk, and find a win-win strategy. Of course, this requires both parties to have a certain emotional intelligence and a desire to "make a good product."

5. Even at home, we still care about our users

This question is different from the above four questions. It is triggered by the operation work itself.

The relationship between operations and users is just like the relationship between after-sales customer service and customers of traditional enterprises.

In the era of mobile Internet , users are online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Competition in terms of current products and functions has reached a bottleneck. Everyone knows that there is no strongest domestic copycat capability, only stronger ones. Therefore, the competition in service capabilities becomes extremely important. This requires operations to remain online at all times.

For our operations friends who are responsible and highly professional at work, even if the company does not have any strict requirements, can they bear to ignore user inquiries after get off work?
Or when there is a need to carry out marketing for a hot event , it is common to work all night long to draft a manuscript and come up with creative ideas to publish the content as soon as possible.

Suggestions that are not really suggestions: Depending on the product's requirements for service quality and the actual workload, if necessary, you can take the work data to negotiate with the company's senior management to increase operational staff, or make demands on the product and find some automated solutions.

The above problems are just some of the "broken things" that you will encounter in actual operations. In reality:

●No special skills? Do operations●Can’t find a job? Do operations. Isn’t operations just about telling jokes?
●Isn’t operation just about getting likes and buying followers?
●Isn’t operation just posting advertisements everywhere on the Internet?
●Isn’t operations just a group of people who are idle every day chasing gossip?
●Hey, Xiao Zhang, aren’t you going to distribute flyers today?

Lucky, lucky, lucky. Lucky your sister. You must have seen this kind of misunderstanding a lot (I have made great contributions but was treated as an ant. It’s so sad to talk about it…)

The above content is just an introduction, and its purpose is of course to reduce the unrealistic expectations of friends about operations work - excessive expectations will do nothing but make oneself impetuous.

Of course, there are always more ways to solve a problem than excuses to avoid it. If you choose operations as the starting point of your career, then please stick to it with all your heart, and if you love it, love it deeply.