Ten years of WeChat, here is what Zhang Xiaolong taught us about product methodology!

WeChat Open Class: A Spring Festival Gala for the Internet industry, a carnival for Internet people!

Recently, apart from the “melons” in the entertainment industry, what has been flooding the WeChat Moments and various group chats is undoubtedly Brother Xiaolong’s open classes for the Internet industry.

Ten years of companionship, the passion is hard to cool down!

Every time, I am deeply impressed by the height of Xiaolong's thinking and the depth of his thoughts. The product methodologies reflected behind the open courses are as classic as textbooks!

1. Frontier

Wearing sportswear and speaking Mandarin with a slight accent, one could even sense a hint of shyness and timidity when he was giving the speech.

This man blessed by God looks so ordinary, and what he said in his 87-minute speech was so pragmatic.

Here is a set of statistics:

Without any grand talk, Brother Xiaolong seemed to be just an ordinary product manager, reporting the changes of WeChat over the past ten years to the vast number of users.

We have previously summarized the classification of product managers:

Junior product managers focus on functional modules;

Senior product managers focus on the product itself;

Senior product managers focus on business areas.

And from what dimensions and perspectives does Zhang Xiaolong, a product manager who is blessed by God, look at products?

Through this open class, we can get a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg. To sum up, there are "three ends and one thought". Let us worship them together~

2. Background

Let me first put forward a point of view: it is "times create heroes" rather than "heroes create times".

About two-thirds of the entire open class is spent on talking about the content of the video account.

Looking back at the ten-year history of WeChat, we can see that apart from the Moments videos and the almost ignored “Video Status”, WeChat has not made any big moves in terms of videos.

However, even a stabilizing force like WeChat cannot escape the influence of the short video trend such as TikTok and Kuaishou.

After Tencent launched "Weishi" to compete, and after several rounds of catching up, it finally couldn't even catch up with the taillights of "Tik Tok" and "Kuaishou". In 2019, WeChat finally launched "Video Account".

Therefore, in the 2020 open class, Xiaolong said:

The first product rule: The direction of product evolution must cater to the trend of the times and must go with the flow!

3. User side

We have mentioned in the series of articles on "How to Conduct Effective Demand Analysis" that a core part of understanding the business is understanding the scenarios, and the classic way to express the scenarios is user stories.

Brother Xiaolong also told us story after story in the open class. These stories made us resonate with each other because the protagonists of the stories are ourselves.

1. who (role)

Throughout the open class, Brother Xiaolong mentioned three types of user roles: everyone (ordinary users), institutions, and creators.

2. what (activity)

The activities that the three different roles want to complete on WeChat or Video Account are basically similar, but the proportions they account for are different.

On WeChat, people just chat, browse Moments, etc., while on Video Account, people post videos, browse videos, etc.

3. value

But the values ​​they want to achieve are different.

(1) For everyone (ordinary users): Whether it is "posting a video", "seeing a song", or "setting a status", Zhang Xiaolong tells us: the essence of social interaction is to find people like you.

(2) For institutions: I have always followed the words of Mr. Yu Minhong, "Starting a business that is not for the purpose of profit is hooliganism." The most direct manifestation of its value in the video account is that it is the official website of every enterprise.

(3) For creators: The values ​​we want to achieve include both material benefits like those of institutions and emotional identification like those of everyone (ordinary users). But we have all experienced the fear of being dominated by big Vs on Weibo and Tik Tok…

4. Product side

1. Product positioning

After understanding the user side, we need to think about a question: What can we do for users?

We need to have a direction first. It doesn’t need to be so detailed, but it must be a beacon for us to move forward.

In the open class, Zhang Xiaolong mentioned the issue of positioning twice, once was the positioning of WeChat, and the other time was the positioning of the video account.

2. System construction

The system is the core outline of the product!

After determining the direction of the product, the next step is to build the system.

Establishing a system is a huge and sophisticated project. Once established, one move will often affect the entire system. If you want to abolish or change it later, you can only do it with a big fuss or even start over again.

As Zhang Xiaolong said:

3. Grayscale test

This is perhaps the most commonly used method on WeChat, especially in the past year. Whether it is on WeChat, official accounts, or video accounts, we often discuss: "You have this function, why don't I have it?"

Moreover, data is an important criterion for verifying grayscale testing!

4. User Experience

The product development process goes from "usable", to "easy to use", and then to "good looking".

Being responsible for "looking good" is the professional field of UI, so we won't go into details. But making it “easy to use” is often the job responsibility of a product manager.

One of the words Zhang Xiaolong used to describe WeChat was "simple," and he added, "I use simplicity as a synonym for beauty, practicality, rationality, and elegance."

Indeed, every minor version update of WeChat provides us with a better user experience. And this change is so simple that it feels like we are meeting old friends again, without any sense of incongruity.

What touched me most during the open class was that a figure of Zhang Xiaolong's level was still discussing these small functions and small experiences with all of us. For example, floating windows.

5. Thinking Concept

Thinking concepts are the flags in our hearts, affecting our attitudes and behaviors at all times.

The ideas and concepts expressed by Brother Xiaolong are really shocking. I will extract the original content for you to enjoy.

VI. Conclusion

Perhaps the starting point of success is just the simplest idea. Just as Zhang Xiaolong said, at that time he just wanted to have a communication tool that suits him.

Then the process of bringing this simple idea to its extreme is the process of miracles happening.

Let me end with a classic quote from A Tale of Two Cities: This is the best of times, it is the worst of times!