A must-have anti-pitfall manual for operators. Have you fallen into a pitfall?

If you ask operations , what is the most impressive thing in operations work? The operation said: Take the blame. So what is more profound than taking the blame? The operation said: I often take the blame. This is actually our daily operation, making mistakes and taking the blame.

If you want to achieve success in an operations position and stay there more steadily and longer, you must learn how to avoid pitfalls. In this article, I summarize some of the pitfalls I have encountered before, hoping to give you some inspiration so that you don’t make similar mistakes.

1. What are the pitfalls of operation?

1. Technical pitfalls

The technical pitfalls mainly come in writing bugs. During the product operation process, the most common feedback we hear from users is about bugs, and these pitfalls are filled by operations. When I was operating mobile games , I had to temporarily fix some bugs and hot-load the updates after almost every version update.

The most impressive one was when there was a recharge bug. After the version was updated, the recharge interface kept circling and recharge was impossible. It was during a big event and the customer service phone was flooded with calls. The technical staff had been investigating, but the key was that they could not find the cause. It took from 5 pm to 11 pm to solve it, and we missed the golden time. The loss for that day was enough to pay one month’s salary for the department. This pit index is 5 stars.

The pit above resulted in loss of revenue, and the bug below directly caused user loss . After a version was updated and uploaded to the channel , some users reported that they could not install it. After testing, it was found that the old version had to be uninstalled before it could be installed, and the old version could not be directly overwritten.

At that time, looking at the small number of daily active users in the backend, I felt like banging my head against the wall. First, I blamed myself for not testing it myself before going online. Second, I wondered how technology could create such a bug? This makes the already few users even rarer. This pit index is 4 stars.

There were also technical pitfalls and incorrect numerical configurations. At that time, we were going to launch a big event, the kind that attracts recharges once a month. We had preheated it in the official account , forums, and QQ groups in the early stages, and we also released new heroes that were released during the event. Users' appetites were aroused, and they were all holding coins to purchase. As a result, we couldn't find the event entrance on the day of the event.

Moreover, it was Saturday, and I was woken up by a call from customer service early in the morning, saying that users could not participate in the event. I quickly asked the technical staff to go to the company and found that the online time was wrong and the event was not started. In order to appease the users, the event was extended for a few days. This pit index is 3 stars.

2. Product pitfalls

Products and operations are a pair that love and hate each other. Here I want to criticize the product. The first pitfall of the product is that it is disobedient! The suggestions and advice from operational feedback were often ignored, and I have never gotten out of this pit.

When I was in charge of the operation of a tool APP, the company had very high requirements for profits and was willing to sacrifice user experience for the sake of profits. However, products have feelings, and I feel that product experience is the most important. We are in charge of operations and have KPIs , so naturally we value profits.

100% of the demands raised are related to increasing revenue, such as adding a banner ad to the homepage to promote CPC ads; adding a download option to the guide page to reduce user acquisition costs; and similar functions. As a result, when the project is launched, they are all passed. The reason is that it may not be effective, and it will harm the user experience and reduce retention , so there is no solution to this. This pit index is 4 stars.

As a last resort, they brought in the company boss to put pressure on them and forced the requirements into place. Do you think that everything will be fine? No, no, no, there are still pits waiting for us.

We know that the revenue from advertising is related to the number of times it is displayed, and CPM advertising is charged based on exposure. At that time, a demand was raised for a full-screen advertisement, which would pop up once an hour when the user switched networks. Given that users check their phones quite frequently, it was expected that the revenue from this advertisement would not be small.

After going online, we found that the revenue had hardly changed and the functional tests were all normal, so where was the problem? Later I asked the product and found out that the pop-up frequency had been changed to once a day! At that time, I said MMP but I didn’t know whether I should say it or not. This pit index is 2 stars.

3. Operational pitfalls

Now comes the key point. During the product operation process, most of the pits were dug by ourselves. Here are a few pits that I dug at that time to demonstrate the standard pit-digging actions to everyone.

Once, a colleague was busy with other things and had no time to upload the product. I saw that I had nothing to do, so I said: Let me help you. Then after giving me the package, I uploaded it and never asked about it again. On the day of going online, I found that the number of new additions that day decreased a lot. After checking, it was mainly because the channel where I helped upload the package was reduced.

This is strange. I logged into the developer backend and saw that the package was rejected. It turned out that I selected the wrong package when uploading. I uploaded a package from another channel, but I didn’t see it after it was rejected. Then, I also lost the bonus for that month. This scam has a 5-star rating because it has already caused financial loss.

Other pitfalls are caused by insufficient estimation of the effects. Once, a post-launch activity was launched on the forum. The forum had just been opened not long ago, and it was thought that just holding a post-launch activity to increase popularity would not result in many participants. The rule is that any user who visits the building can get a gift package code, which contains rich rewards, equivalent to 5 yuan in RMB.

As a result, within less than half a day after the event went online, there were already hundreds of floors, and it was impossible to send the gift package codes to everyone one by one through private messages. Moreover, there are people who keep commenting on the post, most of them are recommended by other users and come here because of its reputation, so its popularity has indeed increased.

I didn't do anything that day. I just sent out redemption codes in private messages until 11 o'clock in the evening. From now on, I will never do those kinds of activities that provide benefits to all members. Either the quantity is limited, or the codes can only be obtained on designated floors. This pit index is 3 stars.

Some pitfalls are caused by poor communication. Operations need to communicate with design to draw pictures, and communicate with technology to match data, etc. If the communication is not in place at one time, you will fall into the pit.

Once, there was a new activity to be launched within the product, and some banner ads were to be made in conjunction with this activity. The activity was to be launched on Friday. When I asked the designer for the pictures on Friday, the designer was confused and asked, "What pictures?" Didn’t I tell you that I needed a copywriting ? The design said no.

When I looked at the chat history, I found that the requirement document was not sent successfully, which made me feel helpless. I quickly submitted the requirement again, squeezed it into the schedule, and put it online before the event went online. This pit index is 2 stars.

4. The company’s pitfalls

If such a pit exists, it is usually a tiankeng, and the operator can only wave his hands.

The first is the pitfall of missing data. For operations, the most important thing is data. Without data support, no matter what measures are taken, the effect will not be visible, and we will not know the direction.

However, many companies did not realize the importance of data in the early days of their establishment. They had no tracking points, no statistics, and even no daily active data. I had thought of many ways to calculate the daily active users of my own APP. In the end, I estimated the daily active users based on revenue and the value of a single user (industry average). When I showed it to my boss, his reaction was, why is it so few? This pit has a 5-star rating and there is no solution.

Another pitfall of the company is that responsibilities are not clear. When operating in such a company, you don’t know what you should do. When you ask the boss, what should you do? The boss said he would arrange it himself. Then operations will do business work, marketing work, product work, and even design work. I had some free time before, so I photoshopped a few advertising pictures to promote it. This pitfall has a 3-star index. This pitfall is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is very challenging.

The above briefly discusses a few examples of pitfalls. In fact, during the operation process, the pitfalls that can be encountered are far greater than the above examples. Sometimes when you encounter a pitfall, you will have an inexplicable feeling, which can cause problems!

2. How to avoid pitfalls and quickly get out of them

1. Plan and rehearse in advance, and think about every step

This is the first rule to avoid pitfalls. I found that many of the pitfalls encountered by operations were caused by insufficient anticipation, and carelessness is a major enemy of pitfalls. Therefore, my requirement for operations is to be meticulous and responsible.

Take the example of an in-product launch event. As an operational event, if it is not done well, there will definitely be forks, or pitfalls. When an activity goes online, it is necessary to ensure that the process for users to participate in the activity is smooth. This requires the operation to personally test the process several times, from the beginning to the end. If there is a link stuck in the middle, submit a bug immediately. Congratulations, you have discovered a pit in advance. After fixing it, proceed to the next step.

After the activity process is correct, it is necessary to determine the launch time, who will operate the launch, and where users can see the activity after the launch. If you rehearse all of this and everything goes smoothly, you can greatly reduce the probability of making mistakes. Of course, don’t have a foolproof mentality. After the activity goes online, you must keep an eye on it in real time and not be careless.

2. Assign someone to help you pass on the blame

Assigning responsibilities to specific individuals is a good way to avoid being blamed. If it is your own fault, then there is nothing you can do about it. When we make a plan, we will assign tasks to different people, who will be responsible for the copywriting, who will design the materials, who will maintain the backend, who will be responsible for the users, and so on. In larger companies, one event is completed by multiple people working together, and each person is responsible for a module. When something really goes wrong, we can find the person based on the whole story.

For example, if the date on the material is wrong, then it is the designer's fault. The designer says that the copy given is wrong, then it is the copywriter's fault. The copywriter says that the planner said it was these days, then it is the planner's fault. The planner says: It is indeed my fault!

Finally, the person was found, because most operational events are led by operations. If the responsibilities are not clear, once a problem occurs, the first person the boss will look for is operations. If operations doesn't know what caused the problem, they can only take the blame themselves.

3. Murphy's Law: What is to happen will happen sooner or later

What I'm talking about here is mentality. As an operator, you should be more calm about daily pitfalls. In many cases, even if we have thought it through very carefully and done everything very perfectly, pitfalls will still occur. A few times, when I was resting at home, customer service called to say that there was a problem somewhere. Over time, I got used to it.

The most bizarre incident was when a construction team dug up the cables, causing some users to be unable to log in. When you encounter such a pit, you can only laugh it off. I believe that after everyone has stepped into countless pitfalls, they have become accustomed to it. Don’t dwell on the past, just do tomorrow’s work well. This is the best mentality for operations when facing pitfalls.

In summary

The above lists some daily pitfalls in operations work, as well as a few simple tips to avoid them. Those who have not yet entered the operations position can be mentally prepared in advance. For those who have already fallen into many pitfalls, let me encourage you. I still wish you all to avoid pitfalls and get more salary increases. The future COO and CEO will all be yours.

The author of this article @老虎讲操作 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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