“Yes… I should analyze the method that Director Lin was talking about.
“This concerns Otto Technologies’ future direction. The cell phone industry is constantly changing. A single misstep could lead to a thousand wrongs. We can’t afford to be shoddy.”
If Chang You was the same person as he had been when he first came to Tengda, he would not have overthought things. He would have handed the task down to his subordinates and made sure that they did what was asked of them.
However, after six months of rigorous training, Chang You felt like he had learned a lot from Boss Pei.
One of the most important lessons was that one had to have a keen eye and a sense of direction!
A famous entrepreneur once talked about the ‘Flying Pig Theory’. That meant that if one wanted to make it as an elite businessman, the most important thing he would have to do was look for the right opening.
The cell phone industry was undoubtedly the right opening in a constantly-evolving Internet age. Yet, not everyone would be able to benefit from finding this opening. Anyone who got distracted could easily be squeezed out of their competitive position, fall to their deaths, and break their bones!
In other words, one’s bottom line was determined by how hard they worked, but how far one went-depending on how keen their eye was.
Chang You had thought that he had a keen eye and that he was one of the top few players in the industry. Yet, after meeting Boss Pei, he realized that he had not seen enough of the world. He had thought too much of himself!
He could only see the opportunities that everyone else could see as well. Although he also had a good chance of succeeding, the competition was extremely stiff. He just had to lag behind slightly to lose everything. On the other hand, Boss Pei could see opportunities that no one else could. Such opportunities were rare and valuable. All he had to do was keep a firm grip on the opportunity; he did not need to panic because no one else was competing. Thus, after Otto E1 succeeded, Chang You became sure of one thing. Since Boss Pei had so much foresight and had such unique taste, Chang You had to give up his own view of the market and follow whatever Boss Pei instructed him to do.
If he could win while lying down, why would he choose to work his ass off to compete with the other manufacturers?
Still, the only problem was that geniuses were often strange.
Boss Pei was strange in a way that he enjoyed making his employees guess what was in his mind. It was almost as if he was training his employees to think independently and analyze every situation.
Thus, not everyone could understand Boss Pei’s puzzles, and not everyone could stand out among all the employees and leave a deep impression in Boss Pei’s mind.
It was a good thing that Director Lin had imparted to him the relevant skills to analyze Boss Pei.
Chang You frowned as he fell into deep thought.
“Director Lin once said that the way to start analyzing a problem is to begin from the most unreasonable point. “The most unreasonable point in this situation is that Boss Pei is overkilling. It would clearly be most appropriate for Fish-Catching Take-Out to work on the fitness application. Why did he pass it to us?” Chang You opened the document that Guo Licheng provided on his computer. The document was quite simple; it only contained a few sentences.
If Chang You was to rate this man based on the standards expected of product managers, Guo Licheng would get even fewer than three points.
What’s more, that would be out of a hundred points.
Yet, Chang You could not blame Guo Licheng. He was a fitness trainer to begin with. How would he know anything about the standards expected of product managers? Chang You studied the few sentences very closely. “This Guo Licheng is the man in charge of the shared gym, but he has very simple requests. “That makes sense, I think. After all, he’s new, and he doesn’t understand Boss Pei’s mindset very well. There’s still room for him to be trained.
“If Boss Pei simply wanted these requirements to be met, he could easily have engaged Fish-Catching Take-Out to develop the application.
“What’s more, these requests are obviously too sweeping. Someone should have edited and perfected the interface and designed all the functions from scratch before handing the task down to the programmers.
mers.
“Design…
“Did Boss Pei pick us because of our design skills? Yes, that’s possible. Our product managers are far better at designing than the employees of Fish-Catching Take-Out.
“In other words, Boss Pei has more hidden requirements for the application. Did he know that Fish-Catching Take-Out would not have fulfilled those requirements, and so he handed the task to us instead?
“Yes, that makes much more sense!
“What kind of hidden requests could there be…?”
Chang You thought that he had achieved a breakthrough. Thus, he stood up and started pacing
“All of those requests are enough for a functional application for the gym.
“If Boss Pei wants more, that means…
“The gym is only the beginning. Is Boss Pei’s real goal to break the boundaries of the fitness industry?
“Is that why he let us develop the application? Are we to fill in the gaps in this in-charge’s plans for the gym? Are we to use our knowledge of the Internet to come up with a holistic plan for this application?
“Yes, that must be it!
“But… if Boss Pei wants the cell phone business to collaborate with the fitness application, why wouldn’t he let us install the application as one of the bundled applications in the cell phones?”
Chang You pondered for a moment and finally broke through the final mental barrier. He looked like he had just been enlightened.
“I understand now. Boss Pei thinks that the application would contain a lot of content and that it would be extremely difficult to design it. Thus, he’s worried about the quality. “If we push the application out as a bundled application, the figures would only look good on paper. However, we would fail to tell how the application is really being received, and the misunderstanding would affect our follow-up work.
“At the same time, if the application’s quality is bad, Otto Technologies’ brand would be affected as well.
“So why isn’t Boss Pei allowing us to install our fellow subsidiary’s application in Otto’s cell phone?
“Boss Pei did not say ‘don’t install’, but ‘don’t make it a bundled application’. He wanted the application to be put through the full test in the market, so that every user of the Otto cell phones would install the application voluntarily and willingly!”
Chang You was done solving Boss Pei’s riddle.
He revised his entire thought process and realized that everything had come naturally to him. The plan perfectly coincided with all the benefits. He now had answers for everything that he had found unreasonable earlier.
It was no wonder that everyone loved cracking Boss Pei’s riddles.
Once they successfully solved the riddle, they would feel an immense sense of achievement and satisfaction!
Chang You immediately left his own office, in search of Deposit Fitness’ in-charge.
“There will be changes to the proposal.
“You only requested for the basic functions before. We want to expand based on those requirements! Apart from satisfying the daily needs of the gym, we want to create more functions for the application.
“For example, we want to create a calculator that would come up with a training plan for customers based on their weight and body fat percentage, which would be measured from the gym. Trainers can then refer to this training plan.
“Apart from using the application to make bookings, customers could also use it for regular reminders for training, meals, or rest. Trainers would not have to follow up with them for 24 hours a day, and the reminders can be in-built with smart technology. “We can also create another segment to upload workouts, recipes, facts, and tips. That way, customers would be able to understand the meaning behind Deposit Fitness’ model.
“Many people don’t understand why one would have to regularly make reservations to train in advance or why their fitness meals are bundled. That’s why they find it hard to accept our model.
“If we can popularize this science, everyone would find Deposit Fitness’ model increasingly acceptable!
“On top of that, we can even create an interface for Deposit Fitness to upload videos demonstrating perfect form for various movements in the future. That would allow customers to correct their own form or train at home…”
The man in charge of Deposit Fitness’ app quickly took all of those things down.
Once he was done, he looked up in confusion. “Boss Chang, those things go way beyond the requirements. According to the previous list, Deposit Fitness only asked us to create an application that would allow customers to book slots in the gym, right?
“Would this be… appropriate? Would they be unhappy when we hand the application back to them?”
Chang You smiled. “What? They asked for a simple application, and not only would we meet their requests perfectly, but we would also throw in many more useful functions. How could they get angry? “I think they’ll be beyond grateful!”
The man in charge of the application scratched his head and mumbled, “But I don’t think this is necessary…”
Chang You smiled subtly. “It is. Of course, it is!
“Once you take my place and spend time working with Boss Pei, you would enjoy a much better view of the world. Then, you will understand why I am doing this…
“You have a lot to learn!”
May 4th, Wednesday… At about 10 PM, after sending the last group of guests out, Lin Canrong instructed the waiters and cleaners of Ming Yun Private Kitchen to pack up and prepare to leave.
Logically, Ming Yun Private Kitchen’s workflow should have stabilized by now. As a branch manager, Lin Canrong could slack off once in a while without affecting the restaurant.
However, he continued to work hard and meticulously every single day.
After all, he was a chef with a reputation in Jingzhou. What’s more, after earning Boss Pei’s appreciation, he had been the branch manager of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the man in charge of Fish-Catching Take-Out.
After being made the branch manager of Ming Yun Private Kitchen, he had had the chance to speak to many people of different backgrounds in Jingzhou, which only made his career increasingly smoother.
Lin Canrong cherished this opportunity greatly. At every moment, he was thinking about how to improve Ming Yun Private Kitchen, not only to repay Boss Pei for trusting him but also to take his own career one step further.
A while ago, when he discovered that Rui Yuchen’s Fish-Catching Take-Out was expanding rapidly, he began to feel nervous. He asked to open a new branch for Ming Yun Private Kitchen, but Boss Pei had turned him down.
Lin Canrong was extremely confused. Why did Boss Pei refuse to set up another branch?
After a few days, he finally gained some clarity.
Ming Yun Private Kitchen was popular for two reasons. On one hand, it was because the chefs and ingredients were the best in the world, and the food tasted outstanding. On the other hand, it was because the restaurant’s environment was unique.
People were not allowed to take photos, everyone had to queue for seats, and high-end people were pursuing it endlessly. All of those factors contributed to the customers’ desire to visit the restaurant.
In other words, it was precious because it was so rare. For example, some brands never sold limited edition products. Instead, they sold their products freely, which in turn resulted in their products being worthless.
Ming Yun Private Kitchen’s chefs had been poached from all over the world. Each one of them had unique skills. If they set up another branch, how could they ensure that all the food would taste the same? If there was a difference in taste, customers’ demand for the food would be affected. Wouldn’t that be damaging the nameless restaurant’s golden signboard then? So what if they could earn more money by setting up another branch? Would Boss Pei care for that much money?
Obviously, the restaurant’s name was more important.
After figuring this out, Lin Canrong quashed the idea of setting up another branch. Instead, he acceded to Boss Pei’s request and started thinking about how to spend the money that he had earned to improve Ming Yun Private Kitchen.
At the moment, he had a few fuzzy ideas, but he had not made a decision yet.
As Lin Canrong thought about it, he started to drive. As he was leaving from the north-west gate, he noticed a shop on the first floor with its lights still on. People were still working inside.
A moving van was parked on the road by the entrance, and people were moving all sorts of gym equipment onto it.
Ever since Ming Yun Private Kitchen became famous, the land in Ming Yun Villas became extremely expensive. People kept referring to the place as Jingzhou’s new commercial district, and many even started investing in the area. More and more shops appeared as time went by.
However, not every shop did well.Based on Lin Canrong’s memory, this shopwhich was still lit—was a high-end gym. It originally targeted the high-end crowd in Ming Yun Villas.
He had thought that it would prosper and be filled every day. However, as time went by, its situation deteriorated, and it had not improved even though employees distributed flyers every single day.
Did this mean that the gym could not survive any longer?
Lin Canrong parked his car by the road, intending to take a look. After all, they were neighbors and were acquainted with one another. It would be good to offer some comfort.
He saw the branch manager of the gym, smoking a cigarette by the side as he instructed his employees to move the fitness equipment. However, there wasn’t a hint of sadness on his face as one would expect since his gym was closing down.
The branch manager saw Lin Canrong walking over, and so he waved to greet him. “Hey, Branch Manager Lin. Have you just knocked off?”
Lin Canrong nodded. “Yes, I have. Are you… quitting?”
The branch manager of the gym burst into laughter. “I am! Someone’s taking over! This huge mess is finally out of my hands!”
