The dilemma of the business front-end

Preface
As a business front-end, while fulfilling business requirements, it also has to deal with various online problems. After working hard and busy for a year, the boss said that "thinking is not enough" and "there is no business sence". I went out for an interview and was asked. The project, I cant say anything that has highlights or challenges. I want to do something awesome, but I havent found any valuable directions. I finally find some directions. I have to be questioned by the boss about the business value. ? What about ROI? In the end, it may just be a little performance optimization work, and some reusable components have been removed...I can't help but sigh, the business is difficult, the front-end is difficult, and the front-end of the business is even more difficult!

If you have such feelings and dilemmas, I want to tell you that this is really normal. There are many thoughts on this issue in Alis internal technical forums. Based on my own understanding and research, I have also referenced many The summary of experts in different front-end fields is compiled into this article, I hope it can be helpful to everyone.

1. The dilemma of the business front-end1.1 Business front-end is "busy"The front end of the business, as the name implies, is the front end of the business, directly in contact with the PD and operations of the business, and is directly responsible for the users of the product. In actual work, the front-end business is often busy with various meetings, projects, and Q&A. Even if there are multiple front-end classmates on a business line, they may still feel strenuous in the face of Chengshan's needs. The reasons may include:

User-side products often need to go online quickly, most of the needs require inverted schedules, and development time is particularly tight
Im not familiar with the business. I only go to the visual review when the project requirements have been determined. There is no way to judge whether the business logic behind the requirements matches the business rhythm, whether the requirements themselves can achieve the business goals, and whether there is a better way to achieve them. Able to accept the demand, and then schedule
Maintenance costs are high, and I have to be busy solving various online problems every day. For example, there is a problem with the style here, why is there no display... Various trivial problems make your life very "fulfilling"
Demand response speed is slow. For example, the business technology stack is old, or there are too many custom logics. You have to check the documentation while writing the code. If you can't find it, you may need to check the source code, which greatly reduces the efficiency. Or it may be different from other business technology systems, which are difficult to reuse and accumulate. If you want to use it, you may have to rewrite it again...
1.2 Is the business front-end a "resource"?
The feature of front-end positions is that they can complete the work with visual drafts, and do not need to understand the full picture of the business. Therefore, it is easy for the front-end to ignore business thinking during the busy period. In addition to the various reasons described above, the front-end business is often reduced to "resources". When you are reduced to a "resource", you have actually lost the qualification to talk to the business on an equal footing. They will only treat you as a development machine of undeserved feelings, input requirements with you, and let you spit out the page, and you are in this way. In the relationship, there was originally written neat code. In order to quickly realize the business requirements, you also started to write messy code. You have no say in the products you create, and you lose your passion and patience over time.

If you lose your passion, you dont want to write, because you havent made anything special, and your boss wont recognize your hard work. You will also feel that you dont think enough, dont have business sence, dont help the business, and dont let the business. It's different because of your existence...

1.3 Business front end wants to break through
Okay, then I decided to make some changes, so I put forward a series of ideas with the boss:

The technical system here is too old, in order to further improve the development efficiency, we want to carry out technical reconstruction
The front-end and back-end joint debugging is a bit laborious. We want to build a joint data center to improve the efficiency of joint debugging.
The display speed there is too slow, we need to optimize the performance
...
The boss often asks a series of soul questions:

Why do it? (What is the business value? What is the technical value?)
Why do it now?
Why did you do it?
What about ROI (input-output ratio)?
Before it started, the restless heart was poured cold water by a series of "questions" from the boss.

If you dont answer these questions well and convince the boss, you wont be able to get any resources. You can only do it by one person. Often the quality is not good and there is no one to use. In demand.

I was not happy and did not grow up. In the end, I could only leave the job dimly, but would it be okay if I changed a company? It is likely to be a similar process...

This is really the "dilemma" of the front-end business, so how to break through this dilemma? First of all, we must set our mindset and start with understanding the business.

1. Understand the business2.1 Business and needsBefore understanding the business, we must first know that business and demand are not the same. Understanding the requirements does not mean understanding the business. The requirements are the products of the business after product digestion, which may have been deduced or disassembled. Therefore, the requirements are not the business itself. Of course, the more you understand the needs, the better you will understand the overall picture of the business.

So what is business? The industry has many definitions of "business", but the main idea remains basically unchanged. Business is a process in which a series of people complete a certain task through a series of activities. Therefore, the business can be large or small, and can be split infinitely.

The business involved in this article generally refers to commercial business, which is the business or its component parts directly related to the business model of the BU or company.

2.2 Why should the front-end learn business
Even if the front-end does not learn the business, it does not affect the demand. After all, you only need to tell me what the interaction is like, and the front-end can help you achieve it, and there is already a product manager role. Why does a technologist ask the dog to take the mouse, or do it on his behalf? This is to say:

Only by understanding the business can you think of things that the business side has never thought of from a technical point of view; if you dont understand the business, you may not understand what the business side wants, and you cant even figure out the business logic of the requirements. In this case, there is only one cooperation model. Seed, the demand comes down, you catch it, and then schedule it. Perhaps, the design of this requirement is unreasonable, and you dont know; there is a better implementation plan for this requirement, but you dont know; this requirement can be solved through off-the-shelf related product solutions, which saves time and manpower, and you dont know.
Only by understanding the reasons behind the business can we plan the future of technology from a global perspective. If you dont understand the business, you will be far from the real needs of the users. The harder it is for you to find some of the pain points and challenges, and you cant really put forward your thoughts and solutions to solve the users problems.
As a product research and development engineer, I naturally hope to personally polish a product that solves user problems and is experience-friendly. If the product can be recognized by users, it will have an impact and will naturally have a special sense of accomplishment.
As a commercial technology company, Alibaba's requirement for technical people is to combine technology and business. On the basis of meeting business needs, it becomes a bridge between technology and business, actively enters the business, and thinks about how to help the business win and satisfy through technical means. Market and user needs, advance technical planning, talent reserve, technical architecture and technical pre-research.
2.3 Do you understand the business?
So do you currently understand the business you are dealing with? Try to answer the following questions:

What does the business do? Is there a big picture of the product?
What are the core indicators of the business? What are the KPI goals and what is the meaning behind these numbers? To achieve these goals, what is the business strategy?
Who are the users of the business? How is traffic stratified? What's the proportion? What is their positioning in the business?
The business model of the business? How to attract traffic and what is the profit model?
What are the pages we make? What value does it bring to the business? What can we do to create more value?
2.4 How to learn business?
2.4.1 Reading of business domain knowledge
Find books with good scores related to the field to concentrate on reading, and quickly form a knowledge framework.

2.4.2 Understanding the business background and planning
If you have just taken over a new business, you can invite the business owner or senior operation/product classmates to tell you about the past, present, future, vision, fiscal year planning, and expectations of technical classmates of this business;
Take time to read the weekly reports of the partners (operations, products, R&D) to understand what is happening now and whether it is getting closer to the goal;
Understand the business goals, landing strategies, and the data caliber for measuring the goals, pay attention to the data, and pay attention to whether the current project is fighting to achieve the goal, if not, put forward your ideas and suggestions;
Participate more and establish a product sense. The best way to collect information is to participate in the KO meeting of the boss of the business. Various KOs will disassemble the strategy and the thinking behind the overall arrangement and then communicate to the BU or classmates in the department.
2.4.3 More exchanges
Chat with server-side classmates, chat with PM, chat with users, and look at the business from multiple angles, but it should be noted that for more professional businesses, you need to do your homework first. At least some English abbreviations must be clear and understandable.

2.4.4 Remember the numbers
If it takes a long time before, then this one can be done now, that is, the more detailed the business-related figures can be remembered, the more specific the better, and the more comprehensive the better. This has two advantages:

The recorded digital indicators themselves have already covered this business value direction to a large extent, and you will know which dimension the business focuses on.
These numbers can be used as the source of "equal dialogue" with business parties and products, otherwise there is no basis for even the most basic dialogue
2.4.5 Start with daily needs
For the needs of the project, we must try to analyze the purpose and value behind it, what expected benefits will be obtained after doing it, why this benefit can be achieved by doing so, and whether it is in line with the overall goal, and we must also judge the points mentioned by the business side. If it is not an effective plan or a plan that is too costly, see if an alternative plan can be given to satisfy the business side with the existing plan or a low-cost method.

After the project is tested and launched, it is necessary to carefully analyze and pay more attention to the business data and effects after the launch, which will have the following benefits:

Improve your understanding of the business. When you pay attention to business data, you will also see from a business perspective whether the value brought by this function meets expectations. When it does not meet expectations, you can The business side will analyze the data funnel together to find the problem and prevent our labor results from becoming a one-time job.
At the same time, the summary can help you sort out the deficiencies in this project, or what problems exist in the related promotion, and how to improve later, so as to improve the iterative efficiency and quality of the next project. For example, whether there are problems such as poor understanding of requirements and rework in this project, or low efficiency of communication & joint adjustment, unstable environment, and whether the plan designed by yourself is reasonable, and how to solve it in the future.
It can also be judged from the data and summary what kind of demand is reliable & what kind of business side is reliable, the business side who frequently strives for resources to go online but does not have a good effect, and the next time there is a demand, it needs to be increased. A process of mind and thinking.
2.4.6 Persist
Business thinking ability, no one will not be effective for at least half a year

1. Boost business3.1 ThinkingAlthough the business is usually very busy, no matter how busy you are, you have to take time to think . So what should you think about? Here are some examples:

Develop the habit of memorizing work content every day, and analyze where your time is spent
In business development, are there any points that make you particularly want to complain? Think about the reason behind the problem. Is there any way to avoid not committing it next time? Can it be refined into a more general solution? How can other students solve it? How can I solve it?
Constantly input and observe, what are the real needs of the business? Thinking from the perspective of the business side, where are the pain points and challenges encountered by the business?
3.2 Communication
Focus on the boss, teammates, and business side to confirm whether "what I want to do" is "what everyone wants"?

You may put forward a lot of opinions, but generally you will be ruthlessly rejected by your boss or business side, and you will be confused when asked, such as:

In the current business context, why do we do it? (What is the business value? What is the technical value?)
Must it be done now?
Why did you do it?
How to do it? (Systematic, full-link, single-point technical challenge)
What are the business and technical results? Can it be reused?
Future planning (can it be linked and co-constructed with BU or group plans)
And this is often because the things you propose to do are valuable but not necessary, and do not integrate what the current business needs. In other words, the technology you want to do is considered from a personal and purely technical perspective. There is no technical plan based on the current situation and pain points of the business. It is not grounded and the input-output ratio is not high.

Therefore, first find a good business position for technical output, see if there is any place to borrow, and don't repeat the wheel. After quickly verifying the correctness of this direction, gradually increase investment and full technical design. Don't do it by yourself and silently. The things that come out of this way are not paid for by the business scenario.

3.3 Technical planning
Business empowerment actually requires us to closely follow our business plans and formulate technical plans and plans. After understanding the key points of the business sides KPIs this year, the expected dismantling and implementation paths, and combining your own and team situation, think about what you can do to help the business achieve its KPIs. There are two points to note here. Down:

Grasping the essence from the point and aspect, consider the overall situation : In many cases, the pain points and business needs we receive are single points. At this time, we cannot focus on the single point problem at hand, but need to consider the overall situation, such as the SEO page Very sensitive to performance, and often may receive feedback from some business parties, saying that our SEO has this place and that place needs to be optimized, and single-point solution to these problems may not bring much benefit to the business, and it is not for yourself. There is no growth in his skills. At this time, if you consider this proposition comprehensively, you will actually find that the optimization of SEO pages is actually to improve the inclusion and ranking of SEO pages. In fact, to improve the inclusion and ranking of SEO pages is not only the path of front-end performance optimization, but also some other paths: such as optimizing keywords & long tail words, using Google's AMP technology to transform SEO pages, and optimizing crawlers to crawl pages. Time-consuming to improve the crawl rate and so on. In this way, we can transform the problems of the right points into the problems of the face, and then we can formulate more effective and comprehensive hands to empower the business.

We must not only solve the immediate pain points, but also have long-term plans : In many cases, we can't just be satisfied with the KPIs in front of us, but also need to understand the business side's long-term ideas and foreseeable plans. For example, in the pilot new business, the first level of planning is to ensure that the business projects are launched on time. Considering the future, the other level of planning may be how to achieve the reproducibility of technical solutions.

3.4 Standing on the shoulders of giants
When you need to develop a productized plan or tool and framework, it is best to look at the group and the industry to conduct a survey to see how the industry and other colleagues solve this problem. Try to stand on the shoulders of others to innovate or participate in co-construction to avoid repetitive and low-quality wheels in small teams

1. Technical Depth4.1 Technical knowledge and technical ability"Technology" cannot be a general term. I think it can be divided into at least two parts, "technical knowledge" and "technical ability".

What is "technical knowledge"? Knowledge is I KNOW

"TypeScript from entry to abandonment"
"React from getting started to giving up"
"Webpack From Entry to Abandonment"
......
What is "technical capability"? Ability is I CAN

I used TypeScript to refactor a large-scale system, and the code robustness and R&D efficiency have been greatly improved.
I used React Hooks to conduct front-end training for the full stack of students, and the training effect was greatly improved.
I studied Webpack in depth and optimized the configuration, which greatly improved the system construction speed.
.....
4.2 Cultivate technical vision
Pay attention to new technologies in the daily industry. It is not necessary to understand in depth, but be curious about the new technology, and probably understand what it does. If you encounter a matching landing environment at work, you can consider writing a demo to see if it is valuable
Pay attention to the solutions of the group and the industry. When we discover problems in the business and make solutions, we can easily fall into our own design, and we want to make everything ourselves, but the input will be very large, and the value of the output will be the same? have no idea. In most cases, what you want to do, you can find in ATA, the pits stepped on by the predecessors, or the existing mature solutions, as long as you communicate and get in touch, you can easily get in. Why do you spend a lot of money? Time to make wheels? Where you can borrow, lets borrow it, and spare the time to do the more core and valuable things in your solution.
4.3 Technical Depth
When you talk about "technical depth", you may naturally think that you have dig deep in a certain technology or solved a technical problem that is recognized by the industry as difficult, but this is only part of the "technical depth":

Systematization / Systematization Systematization
thinking is a way to understand things. When facing a problem, it can list the key elements and solutions for complex problems, and make the chaotic and disordered problems logically clear. There are rules to follow.
In the embodiment of the positioning and solution of the problem, from the appearance to the essence, the reasons behind the problem are disassembled, and the essential reasons are solved in a targeted manner, instead of treating the symptoms and not the root cause, there are solutions to solve them in a rhythmic manner.

In addition to the front-end part of the full link , the forward and backward technology stack can be digged deep.
Single-point technical challenge
On a certain technical challenge, what are your thinking and solutions?
4.4 Win-win technology and business
Really breakthrough business results that bring significant value will inevitably be accompanied by technical in-depth and even innovation. Therefore, when doing business results, there must be scenarios that allow us to increase the depth of technology.

1. Give you more sense of bodyCultivating a sense of business is indeed a very difficult thing. He requires you to take business rather than technology as the first perspective. This may violate the inner "technical persistence" of many people, but if you keep working on technology, it is actually very difficult. It is a very big breakthrough. In your work, if you can achieve a win-win situation between technology and business, it will help you reach a higher height.

Change is indeed difficult, but the result is worth the risk.

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