What icon is suitable for “operations” positions? I finally drew a small column chart: the horizontal and vertical axis two columns arranged left and right, the right column is higher than the left column. Although it is still very abstract, the work of various operations is very different, but business growth is always a common goal.
The reason is to draw a small icon that can represent the “operations” position. We are doing recruitment-related business and want to use graphics to assist our understanding. However, there are always times when using images to express an abstract concept. There are many choices, but none of them are reliable.
To return to the essence, we must first understand what I want to express. Operations…I have worked with operations staff for so long, do I really understand what they do?
As a product designer, dealing with operations is not particularly frequent. In short, it is very complicated, this is a vague impression all the time. In the view of some visual designers, operation = unreliable, unreliable, unreliable, inconsistent ideas, inconsistent views, never value brand and unity, only simple and rude force X users… have worked with me The designers of, I can roughly remember every time they went crazy, and the operation steadily ranked first in the list.
Of course, it is naive to label people casually like this. My girlfriend applied for a job a while ago and went to a small startup company. The last round of CEOs met her in person. In the meantime, she said that her hobby is ancient Chinese history, and she is an extremely rational pragmatist in her life. The CEO was very surprised. He said how could a designer be like you? Shouldn’t the designer’s spare time be something petty bourgeoisie and literary? Listen to concerts, visit art galleries, etc. After hearing this, I also felt very surprised. How far can a CEO who sees the problem so one-sidedly lead the team?
Don’t symbolize anyone or any profession, otherwise you will never have the opportunity to see the shining points that are worth learning. Believe that truly professional operators will never be like that. I checked some information and had a brief chat with the operation colleagues. It was the first time to systematically understand what their work content was-yes, it was really complicated.
Operational work is divided into three major directions: content, users, and activities. The three are indispensable and indispensable. I will describe them in my own words:
- Content operation: responsible for the production and maintenance of specific content.
- User operation: Pay attention to user behavior, guide and change user behavior to achieve business goals.
- Event operation: through intensive planning and resource integration, create opportunities for business development by leaps and bounds.
As for channel operation, community operation, and new media operation, it is another classification dimension, which is mainly divided by the medium to which it is oriented. The specific work content is naturally related to the specific medium.
The term operation is Operate in English. Isn’t the chief operating officer called COO, Chief Operating Officer? The most commonly used term Operate means operation and management. From the Internet, a statement is quite vivid: if the product and design are the people who build the ship, the operation is the person who sails the ship. There is a fundamental difference in thinking between sailing and shipbuilding. Shipbuilders can only use static thinking to solve problems, what is the structure of the ship, what is the ideal state, and how much wind and waves it can withstand. The sailors must use dynamic thinking to cope with difficulties. What if the ocean currents and wind deviate from the course, take the Suez Canal or go around the Cape of Good Hope? Although shipbuilders can also use dynamic thinking to improve the design of the ship and enhance the adaptability of the ship, at least the work can be completed without this. The sailors are constantly facing changes, and apart from the destination, nothing is certain for them.
This is the first time that I work in a team with a very detailed division of labor. It is really enlightening to try to look at the entire business from their perspective. This starts with a dispute in a design review meeting:
The mobile web page of our platform is undergoing a revision. The goal of the revision is superficial, that is, visually changing the skin. Function and interaction are not the focus. However, there is one item in the product requirements on the homepage: Emphasize search and weaken banner. I agreed with this at first. After all, job seekers seldom come with a shopping mentality, and they tend to be more efficient. Search is the protagonist of the entire homepage. So I proposed a scheme like this:
First of all, the search box is enlarged, the shadow makes it float on the page, the visual hierarchy obviously overshadows the banner, and the goal is achieved. One more important point is that the job recommendations in the 2 rows and 3 columns below are actually just searching for the corresponding keywords. Therefore, the search box is close to this area, and you can consider turning the concept of recommended positions into popular searches, which also expands the scope of the concept of search.
The product manager of this program recognized it, but was strongly resisted by the operation at the review meeting. I also tried to explain the advantages of this design scheme, but the operation has not been able to accept the banner being blocked. Unexpectedly, the product manager jumped up and quarreled fiercely with the operation for nearly half an hour. The respective positions of the two parties are very clear. The product hopes to be high-efficiency and less interference, and the operation hopes that the atmosphere is lively and rich in content. As designers, what do we think?
What do we think of banner? A very annoying thing, right? It is often not directly related to the product function, but it takes up so much space, and it always interferes with the user to complete the task in a variety of ways, and I can’t wait to remove it directly. I dare say that not only designers, but many product managers also view banners in this way. In my heart, I feel that this place is an operation site, and my brain automatically skips it. Anyway, if the operation wants to make a sound in the product, just throw a banner position for them to toss themselves, and other parts of the operation don’t have to intervene. I have to admit that I have had this idea before.
Product managers and product designers are more or less inclined to rational thinking, rigorous logic, and emphasis on efficiency. This is a job requirement. An engineering person and pragmatist like me is always willing to believe that good products can speak for themselves. To make the product perfect, it does not require much human intervention, and natural growth is enough to make it enter a virtuous circle. Although this is not wrong, if you think that the operation-led project is not smart enough, just hard work, then you are really too superficial.
Regarding the debate on this search box, until the end, the product and operation did not convince each other, but killed the plan based on the principle of obedience to the majority. However, towards the end of the debate, there was a sentence from operations that completely touched me:
“Think about it. We take this banner to go out to talk about cooperation and resource exchange. People will say that your position is not obvious, and the homepage is blocked. We really can’t get such a resource position. .”
To solve the blocking problem, a solution can always be found. The point is, do we designers and product managers really care about what operations want? Have you really thought about the effect of their work on the entire project?
Finely polished products, the influence will come naturally, such business cases abound. The Sketch we use is such a product. But not all industries have such a high technical content and can make huge differences. The more down-to-earth industries, the harder this path will be. Barbaric expansion and rapid occupation of the market by all means. This is another competition rule for winners and losers.
Unfortunately, our team is in such an industry, and the ability of team members is known for their operations. That being the case, why not do things the way everyone is best at it? To be honest, you will often encounter situations that violate your design concepts, and you have to follow the ideas of operation and try to use design methods to achieve their goals, but in the end they will surely find a balance. It is more important to ensure that everyone is working in the same direction than sticking to each individual’s own principles.
What exactly is product design doing? It’s not that noble. We designers have a magical scale in their hearts. Although there is no precise scale on the scale, it can also measure the quality of the user experience. Maybe just add a little weight to one end of the scale, and the kind guidance will become the black magic that manipulates people’s hearts and overdraws the brand. It is our responsibility to provide early warning of this situation, but things rarely develop to this level. Although we have to speak for users and defend their interests. But the premise is to help the company make money. At this point, our goals and operations are highly consistent.
Therefore, these small partners should also be the service objects of the design. Actively create some special design elements to meet their needs for diversified and customized displays. Actively track and try to improve business indicators to meet their needs for business realization. Actively formulate and sort out external norms to meet their needs to expand their influence through external cooperation. If you change your mindset, you will find that what you do is still valuable.
Going back to the question at the beginning of this article, what icon is suitable to represent an “operations” position? I finally drew a small column chart: the horizontal and vertical axis two columns arranged left and right, the right column is higher than the left column. Although it is still very abstract, the work of various operations is very different, but business growth is always a common goal.
