novellhall Chapter 29 Teacher Lin's Little Classroom
Chapter 29 Teacher Lin's Little Classroom
At 2 a.m., the "garage" was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was different from a few hours earlier.
The initial excitement and tension have subsided, replaced by a focused and stable work rhythm.
The numbers on the monitor screen were still ticking, and the number of users had exceeded 42,000, but no one was shouting anymore. Everyone was focused on their own screen, typing on their keyboards, occasionally exchanging a few words in hushed tones.
Lin Shen shifted his gaze from the screen in front of him to the people in the "garage".
To put it simply, Lin Shen could still feel the fighting spirit permeating the office space, but signs of fatigue were beginning to appear.
Perhaps it's time to make a choice!
Lin Shen stood up, took a marker from the table, and stood in front of the whiteboard.
"Everyone, stop for a moment and have a short meeting."
All eight people looked up and gathered around. Some were holding coffee, some were rubbing their sore eyes, but their eyes were clear.
"First of all," Lin Shen began, his voice steady and clear, "everyone has seen the data; we're moving faster than expected. This means two things: first, we bet on the right direction; second, the pressure ahead will be even greater."
He wrote the first word on the right side of the whiteboard: rhythm.
"Starting today, WeChat will enter a 'weekly update' mode." Lin Shen looked around at everyone. "A new version will be released every Wednesday morning, data review will be completed by Friday, requirements for the following week will be determined over the weekend, and development and testing will take place on Monday and Tuesday. This rhythm will continue for at least three months."
Lu Chuan opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.
"I know what you're thinking," Lin Shen said, looking at him. "Weekly updates mean continuous high pressure, it means there might be no weekends, it means overtime will become the norm. Right?"
Everyone's expressions turned serious. When they saw the data from WeChat, they had already made a choice and were actually prepared to go all out.
However, thoughts are thoughts, and actions are actions.
"Wrong!" Lin Shen said decisively, his tone light. "I've thought about it. To be precise, today is the last day of our endless overtime!"
Lu Chuan panicked and, with a hint of recklessness, hurriedly said, "Brother Shen, we can still..."
Lin Shen pressed down on Lu Chuan's shoulder, stopping him from saying anything more.
"This is my thought after careful consideration. Let's hear what you think and see if it's right." Lin Shen didn't make a direct conclusion, but spoke calmly as if he were doing ideological work: "Weekly updates for WeChat don't mean endless overtime. It means we need to establish a new work model: precise strikes with abundant energy."
He underlined the word "rhythm" and wrote down a few key points:
1. Energy management > Time accumulation
2. Critical Path Prioritization
3. There is no absolute perfection.
"Let me give you a specific example," Lin Shen turned to Cheng Xiangdong, "Xiangdong, how much time did you spend optimizing the iOS startup animation today?"
Cheng Xiangdong thought for a moment: "About four hours. Mainly adjusting the curve of the Earth appearing. We tried more than a dozen versions before finding the most comfortable one."
"The results are excellent," Lin Shen nodded. "But if we asked you to do a similar startup optimization for the Symbian version within an hour, how would you do it?"
Cheng Xiangdong frowned: "That's impossible. Symbian's rendering capabilities are far too poor; it would have to be completely redesigned..."
"So you won't do it, right?" Lin Shen said. "You'll tell me that the core requirement for the Symbian version is 'stable startup,' not 'beautiful animations.' You'll suggest spending time on more critical areas, such as ensuring no crashes on low-memory devices."
Cheng Xiangdong paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."
"This is the first point I wanted to make," Lin Shen circled "critical path priority" on the whiteboard. "Weekly updates are not about doing everything perfectly, but about focusing our efforts on solving the one or two most critical problems in each cycle."
This week it might be the registration process, next week it might be group chat functionality, and the week after that it might be something else. We need to learn to maintain the status quo. As long as we ensure what we have and don't affect the core user experience, everything else can wait.
He looked at Li Yue: "Sister Yue, you mentioned before that you wanted to add a 'guide to adding friends' overlay on the registration success page. Has the design been completed?"
Li Yue nodded: "I made three versions, and I originally wanted to show them to everyone today..."
"Put it away for now," Lin Shen said. "This feature isn't a high priority. Currently, the natural invitation rate after user registration has reached 38%, which shows that the product itself is attractive. We don't need to interfere with it with strong guidance, as that would only increase the cognitive burden."
Li Yue was a little surprised, but quickly understood: "You mean... let the product speak for itself?"
"Yes," Lin Shen said, "Good products will find users on their own. What we need to do is not to push the product hard, but to polish it to be good enough that users are willing to share it on their own."
He wrote the second word on the whiteboard: decision.
"Another challenge of weekly updates is the speed of decision-making," Lin Shen said. "In the traditional development model, a requirement might take a week to discuss, a week to review, and two weeks to develop. We don't have that time, so starting today, the WeChat team is adopting a new decision-making mechanism: I will make the final decision directly."
These words were quite blunt, and they silenced the entire room for a moment.
But Lin Shen felt that he now had the right to say those words; the ever-increasing number of users on WeChat was like a boost to his confidence.
Lin Shen observed the expressions of the eight people, and seeing that no one objected, he added, "This is not dictatorship, this is efficiency. Everyone here is an expert, and except for Lu Chuan, you have all been with Tencent longer than me, so I can completely open up the discussion of technical details."
However, when it comes to product direction, feature selection, and resource allocation, I need to have the final say. And I might not explain the reasons for every decision I make, not out of disrespect, but because some judgments are based on… my understanding of WeChat.
He spoke frankly, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces once more.
"For example," Lin Shen turned to Sun Hui, "Brother Hui, you just suggested that we do database sharding in advance to deal with millions of users. This suggestion is completely correct from a technical point of view, but I have to reject it now."
Sun Hui was stunned: "Why? At the current growth rate, it might break one million next month, and then it will be too late to expand..."
"Because of insufficient resources," Lin Shen said bluntly, "we only have nine people right now. If we have to allocate half of our manpower to reconstruct the database architecture, then the next three weeks of iterations will all be halted."
What WeChat needs most right now is feature iteration to keep users constantly engaged and entertained. Database pressure can be addressed with temporary solutions: adding more machines, optimizing queries, and implementing read/write separation. These tasks can be done by two or three people without affecting the main workflow.
He drew a simple trade-off diagram on the whiteboard:
Target: 30 users in three months
Path A: Fully optimize the architecture (Risks: Functionality stagnation, user churn)
Path B: Ensure weekly updates and incremental architecture optimization (Risk: Technical debt, but user growth)
"I choose B," Lin Shen said. "Not because B is easier, but because at this stage, user growth is more important than technical perfection. Once technical debt really becomes a problem, I think it won't be a problem anymore."
Lin Shen spoke with great confidence. He had anticipated that if their nine-person team did not expand when WeChat's user base truly exceeded one million, it would be a mistake on the part of Tencent, or rather, Zhang Xiaolong or Ma Huateng.
Once the team has truly expanded, with his macro-level structural adjustments and Tencent's talent advantage, there will be ample time for a complete restructuring.
Sun Hui was silent for a few seconds, then slowly nodded: "I understand, you're trading time for space."
"Yes," Lin Shen said, "and this 'time' is calculated. I know where the database's critical point is, and I also know how long our optimization can last. This is not blind optimism, but precise control."
He walked to the whiteboard and wrote down the third word: manpower allocation.
"Nine people, supporting weekly updates, and dealing with explosive growth—it sounds impossible," Lin Shen said. "So I need to redefine your respective 'job content'."
He pulled up a spreadsheet on his computer and projected it onto the wall:
Current team division of labor (9 people).
Lin Shen: Product + Technology Decisions
Cheng Xiangdong (iOS), Wang Rui (Android), Wu Feng (Symbian + multi-terminal coordination), Sun Hui (backend + operations and maintenance), Zhao Cheng (audio algorithm), Li Yue (product + interaction), Su Man (testing + feedback), Lu Chuan (miscellaneous + coordination).
"There's a problem with this division of labor," Lin Shen said, pointing to the spreadsheet. "Cheng Xiangdong and Wang Rui are each responsible for one platform, but many requirements are cross-platform. Wu Feng is coordinating, but his energy is limited. As a result, the same function has to be done three times on three different platforms, which is inefficient."
He dragged the mouse to rearrange the table:
Lin Shen: Product Architecture + Critical Path
Cheng Xiangdong: Core Interaction Specialist (responsible for consistency of interaction across all platforms)
Wang Rui: Performance and Compatibility Special Project
Wu Feng: Multi-terminal infrastructure (unified login, messaging protocols, etc.)
Sun Hui: Back-end services + data
Zhao Cheng: Audio Specialty
Li Yue: User Experience Closed Loop (From Needs to Feedback)
Suman: Quality and Stability
Lu Chuan: Schedule and Resource Coordination
Lin Shen didn't ask everyone at length what they had figured out; he simply explained, "Previously, we were divided into roles based on platforms; now we're divided into roles based on 'capability domains.'"
Cheng Xiangdong is no longer only responsible for iOS; he is responsible for the interactive experience of all platforms to ensure that users can feel the consistent WeChat style on any device.
Wang Rui was in charge of performance; if any platform experienced lag, it was his problem. Wu Feng was in charge of infrastructure, extracting common components from all three platforms for one-time development and reuse across multiple platforms.
Cheng Xiangdong's eyes lit up: "This will double the efficiency. When I was adjusting the iOS animations before, I was thinking that I would have to do it for Android and Symbian as well, which was a headache."
"Now you don't have to worry about it anymore," Lin Shen said. "You just need to define the interaction specifications clearly and write the core code. Wang Rui and Wu Feng will be responsible for implementing and optimizing it on various platforms. What you need to do is not to write the code three times, but to design a solution that can be efficiently copied three times."
He paused, then added, "This requires a change in everyone's mindset. We are no longer 'front-end developers' or 'back-end developers,' but 'problem solvers.' Your responsibility is not to complete assigned tasks, but to ensure that a problem in a certain dimension is thoroughly resolved."
Lu Chuan raised his hand: "Brother Shen, what about me? Am I still doing odd jobs?"
"No," Lin Shen looked at him, "You are the team's 'metronome.' Your job is to ensure everyone is on the right track, to identify who is stuck, who needs help, and whose tasks might be delayed. You also need to be responsible for collecting external information, competitor updates, user feedback, and industry news, and to compile daily reports to share with everyone."
Lu Chuan straightened his back: "Understood!"
Lin Shen walked back to the whiteboard and wrote the last paragraph:
Weekly updates are not the goal, but a means. The goal is to build user expectations and create a competitive barrier through continuous iteration. We need to run the fastest, so fast that all competitors are always one step behind us.
"So," he put down his pen, "from now on, everyone needs to adjust their schedules, ensuring 8 hours of sleep and 4 hours of rest every day, and at least one day off per week. In addition, I need to arrange time for everyone to monitor the backstage area at night. Those on duty must rest the next day. Lu Chuan, you need to communicate with everyone in advance about the scheduling and include me in it."
No one expected that, just 24 hours after WeChat's launch, the project manager would make such a demand.
After a few minutes of silence, Li Yue asked softly, "What if we really can't finish it?"
"Then cut the requirements," Lin Shen said without hesitation. "Never sacrifice quality to meet deadlines, and never ruin the user experience to add features."
If this week's schedule is too heavy, we'll remove the least important item and make sure the core functions that I approve are implemented correctly.
Users won't leave because we launch a peripheral feature a week late, but they will leave because we launch a feature full of bugs.
He looked at the clock on the wall; it was 2:30 a.m.
"That concludes today's product summary meeting, including my personal mini-lecture," Lin Shen said. "Over the next two weeks, we'll test this approach to see if it works. Let me reiterate, the core of version 1.1 is group chat; this is our first social feature, and it must be a resounding success. I'll release the detailed requirements document tomorrow morning. Now—"
He paused, then said something that surprised everyone:
"Everyone, shut down your computers and go to sleep. We start work at 10 a.m. tomorrow, no need to be early."
The room was silent for a few seconds.
"Brother Shen," Sun Hui pointed to the monitor screen, "we still need to keep an eye on the server..."
"The user base isn't that large yet, so trust WeChat! Besides, keep the automatic alarms on; your phone will ring in case of an emergency," Lin Shen said. "And Hui-ge, what you need right now is a clear head, not a tired body. If the server really crashes at 4 AM, who can solve the problem faster: someone who's only had three hours of sleep or someone who's pulled an all-nighter?"
Sun Hui was speechless.
"Go on, everyone," Lin Shen said, starting to shut down his computer. "Remember, from today onwards, the WeChat team will not promote a 'culture of hard work.' What we need is smart work, not frantic work."
The group looked at each other, but seeing that Lin Shen had already picked up his coat, they also began to pack.
Lu Chuan was the last to leave, and he looked back as he reached the door.
Those were lines of writing that Lin Shen had put on the whiteboard.
"Just how confident is this person?" Lu Chuan shook his head, burying this thought deep in his heart.