Chapter 5.29 Sunday

It was time for the monthly learning-from-failure experience session again.

Actually, comparatively speaking, Pei Qian's expectations for Qiu Hong's course were even stronger than those for He An's.

After all, the latter required a roundabout, reverse operation to be useful, and no one knew if it would actually work after the reverse operation; whereas the former could be directly followed.

However, Pei Qian didn't feel like he gained anything from the last course, and was instead treated as a kindred spirit by Qiu Hong.

That was just painful.

Qiu Hong spent half the time talking about project management issues leading to failure, and everything he said was absolutely right, but Pei Qian couldn't use it at all!

He could only hope that today's session would cover some truly useful failure experiences.

Qiu Hong arrived at the coffee shop on time and shook hands warmly with "Ma Yang."

"President Ma! How's it going? Has there been any progress in the company's project management this past month?"

Pei Qian: "..."

Progress?

Any more progress and I'll be finished!

Pei Qian cleared his throat twice, "The last course was very beneficial to me, but time is limited, so let's get straight to the point."

Qiu Hong nodded, "Yes, yes, let's get straight to the point."

The two of them took their seats, and the waiter brought their coffee.

Qiu Hong took a sip of coffee and said, "President Ma, today I'm going to talk about another very critical failure factor. Among all the game startups, there are definitely quite a few teams that have failed because of this factor!"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up instantly when he heard this.

Such a universally applicable failure experience?

Then I have to listen carefully!

Qiu Hong deliberately built suspense, paused, and then said, "This failure factor is... random interference from the boss or other external forces!"

Pei Qian: "?"

Qiu Hong didn't notice the blank expression on "Ma Yang's" face. He was completely immersed in the kind of heartfelt outpouring he'd done before, "This one is all tears, really."

"Most people in the game industry have a relatively simple dream before entering the industry, which is to create something fun for the players. Even if it's a pay-to-win game for the big spenders? As long as they're happy to spend, then we haven't wasted our time."

"But this society isn't that simple, because games can't be made by one person. If you want to work, you have to face all kinds of office politics, you have to take sides, you have to have a good relationship with other people, otherwise you won't get resources, and even the best projects won't be successful."

"When you're an execution planner, you have to listen to the functional planner, right? When you're a functional planner, you have to listen to the lead planner, right? When you finally become a lead planner, you have to listen to the producer, right? When you become a producer yourself, you have to listen to the investor, right?"

"When you really become an investor, you have to listen to the market, listen to the money, because you can't bear to see your money go down the drain!"

"You see, you do have ideas, but you can't guarantee that the people you're directing will have the same ideas as you!"

"This thing is external interference. Think about it, a good idea gets changed by the producer, changed again by the boss, and then changed again by the investor, and then the channel provider asks you to change it again just before it's released... After all these changes, you can't even recognize what it is anymore."

Pei Qian listened silently, his expression blank.

Sounds like a very promising prospect.

I really wish someone would interfere with me and ruin the project...

However, President Pei didn't have anyone interfering with him, he was completely in charge.

In fact, President Pei often interfered with his subordinates.

But the problem is, after all his interference, the game still didn't fail?

Instead, the more he interfered, the more successful it became! How can you explain that!

Could it be that I'm interfering in the wrong way?

Pei Qian cleared his throat twice, "Um, I have a question. President Qiu, what you said about 'the boss's interference leading to project failure,' can you tell me specifically how they interfered?"

Qiu Hong looked surprised, "President Ma, does this need to be explained? You can think of it just by brainstorming!"

"For example, you know what kind of games are popular right now, but the boss insists on doing the opposite; you know what players like, but the boss insists on going against the players; there are no design schemes like that on the market at all, but the boss pats his head and insists you make one..."

Pei Qian fell silent again.

Sounds like that's exactly what I've been doing?

So my losing money strategy doesn't seem to be a problem?

Then why is the result completely opposite?

No, this one is useless, it's a method I've already tried, I have to get Qiu Hong to stop quickly, don't talk about it anymore.

Pei Qian felt that he couldn't waste his precious time on this topic, so he quickly said, "Um, I completely understand. This one is indeed easy to lead to failure! But this experience isn't very useful to me, can we change to another one?"

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment, "Not very useful? President Ma, you mean that you're unlikely to encounter this kind of problem, right?"

"Yes, indeed, President Ma, your direct supervisor is President Pei, and President Pei himself is a top game producer, so it's impossible for you to fail because of being instructed by your superiors."

"It's okay, President Ma, I've already considered this, so this is just an appetizer, I've prepared other content later."

Pei Qian was very happy.

That's great, I almost thought this class was going to be a waste!

Qiu Hong continued, "So, the next very critical failure factor is not being able to find the talents you want! President Ma, you should be able to use this, right?"

Pei Qian deeply agreed, "Yes, I'm really very troubled by this!"

Qiu Hong smiled slightly and continued, "A boss definitely can't take on all the work, otherwise he'll be as tired as a dog and still not do a good job. At this time, you need to find someone in charge of your various businesses."

"This is different from project management, project management is how to use talents, and what I'm talking about now is how to discover talents! Relatively speaking, discovering talents is more advanced."

"Many failed projects fail because the leader's eye for people is not good, and they are deceived by some boastful liars, and they entrust them with important tasks, but they have no real ability at all."

Pei Qian nodded sharply, "So, where are these liars?"

Qiu Hong didn't know how to answer for a moment, "Uh... hidden in the vast sea of people."

Pei Qian asked, "Then theoretically speaking, the base number of liars should be quite large, right?"

Qiu Hong thought for a while, "Who knows, no one has ever done a data survey in this area. But I think it should be okay, most people always encounter one or two liars when starting a business, right?"

Pei Qian was silent.

Does that mean I'm just unlucky?

Still no, this one still doesn't seem to be useful, after all, I really don't have any talent in identifying liars, Zhang Wang is the best example.

Pei Qian cleared his throat twice, "Um, President Qiu, this doesn't seem to help me much..."

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment, "Uh... it's okay, President Ma, I'll change to another one."

"I don't have many successful experiences, but I have a lot of failure experiences!"

Pei Qian: "..."

Why do I have a strange feeling of mutual sympathy?

Qiu Hong thought for a while, "Then next, let me talk about the concept of 'common sense deviation'!"

Pei Qian nodded, feeling that this theory seemed very high-end and should be helpful to him!

Qiu Hong explained, "In game companies, we often hear these words: 'The boss is an idiot, he doesn't understand anything, I quit', or, 'The new planner is too stupid, I've already fired him' and so on."

"This kind of dialogue happens in many game companies, and even the tone is very similar. So, why do people in the game industry always think that others don't understand anything?"

"An experienced lead planner and a producer who can get investment should both be insiders, but they both say that the other 'doesn't understand anything', so who doesn't understand?"

"This is 'common sense deviation', which means that everyone's common sense is different. I and you are considering the same thing, but the common sense I think is completely different from the common sense you think, so we will both think that the other doesn't understand at all."

"For example, the 'shanzhai game' (cloned game) thing, for capital or the boss, this is a proven successful experience, why not do it? But for most practitioners, what future is there for something that others have already done to death?"

"Of course, this is just a very simple example. In actual work, this 'common sense deviation' will be more serious, and it will have an impact on all aspects of making the game and operating the company, eventually leading the project's development to completely deviate from the initial expectations."

Pei Qian blinked blankly.

Isn't this exactly what I'm experiencing?

A kindred spirit!

Pei Qian grabbed Qiu Hong's hand, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that's how I feel! I'm very troubled by this!"

"So, how should this 'common sense deviation' be solved?"

Qiu Hong smiled, "This is simple to say, but difficult to do. It's to establish good communication with each other."

"The root of 'common sense deviation' is that people can't understand each other. As long as they can communicate well and let the other party understand their true thoughts, and form a joint force in the same direction in their thinking, then the problem of 'common sense deviation' can be solved to a certain extent."

Pei Qian: "..."

His enthusiasm was extinguished again.

Why is it another solution that I can't do at all!

Communicate well and let the other party understand their true thoughts? I want to, but the system doesn't allow it!

I can't let others know that I'm deliberately losing money!

What's worse is that my employees seem to have formed some kind of joint force, but it's exactly the opposite direction to me...

Pei Qian was instantly discouraged. He learned three failure experiences today, which can be said to be a great gain.

However... none of them are useful!

Qiu Hong looked at his watch, today's class was almost over, and he breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart.

Hoo, President Ma's requirements are really high.

If I hadn't prepared fully before coming, and if I didn't have a lot of failure experiences myself, this class might really not have been able to continue today.

What is this feeling of bitterness...

Fortunately, fortunately, the course was successfully completed!

Looking at President Ma's contemplative look, he should be very inspired, right?

Pei Qian looked up, "President Qiu, I have one last question. If, I mean if, these three problems are no longer problems, what would happen?"

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Then of course congratulations to President Ma, you can make money lying down!"

"Do whatever you want, don't have to be blindly directed by anyone; all the people selected are talents, each can be on their own; there is no common sense deviation among employees, everyone thinks in the same direction and puts their efforts in the same direction..."

"If you don't succeed, who will?"

Pei Qian: "..."

These words were too heartbreaking.

I came to learn from failure experiences, but after learning them, I'm even more desperate!