A Christian Designer's Diary: Participating in Liulishuo's Startup Journey, 2013-2019

I joined Liulishuo on May 4, 2013 (though I started working with Liulishuo earlier, I chose this as my official start date) and left on May 4, 2019. Two days ago, it happened to be May 4, 2023, marking four years since I left Liulishuo.

Working at Liulishuo was valuable and special for me. While employed there, I faced many challenges, difficulties, struggles, and even pain. For example, in 2014-2015, I went home complaining to my wife saying, “I’m quitting tomorrow” dozens of times each year, only to go to work early the next day after a night of rest/prayer. After leaving, I had lots of memories and reluctance. In the two or three years after I quit, I often dreamed of going back to work at the company, attending meetings, chatting with Lao Wang/Ben, and so on.

During my six years at Liulishuo, ideals and reality clashed. On one hand, my love for design (especially mobile product design) and my desire to create a product that users would love (deeper down, in the context of Christian faith, filled with personal pride and idol worship) drove me to join Liulishuo under harsh startup conditions (half the salary), which I admit was God’s guidance. On the other hand, as the product gradually gained user, market, and capital recognition, my heart was often caught in the pursuit of worldly financial returns, even financial freedom. My work and life status frequently fluctuated due to these potential benefits.

Additionally, breakthroughs and growth in interpersonal relationships and communication have truly changed someone like me, who was timid and shy. Although these changes were achieved through the workplace and by resolving conflicts with others every day, behind them was my God helping me. Whenever I encountered relationship struggles, I resolved them through prayer.

Finally, I did gain some financial return. Choosing to leave Liulishuo at its peak (also before the iron fist of educational regulations and the global economic downturn) wasn’t a prescient decision on my part. Looking back, I admit that this too was God leading me and providing for my needs. (It exceeded what I asked or imagined, but how to use these resources is a challenge too.)

In my Bear note-taking app, there’s a Liulishuo note documenting my experiences over these years. Sharing these diaries from four years ago is partially to let family and friends better understand my past: how I lived, how I thought about problems, and my difficulties. On the other hand, I also want to share with friends the struggles and hardships faced by a Christian, especially one who is growing and immature, when dealing with personal ideals and ambitions, workplace challenges, interpersonal relationships, and the pursuit of financial freedom. Sometimes I relied on myself, other times I had the “if I perish, I perish” faith to rely on God (from Esther 4:16 in the Bible).

I suggest friends scroll to the bottom of the page and read from 2013 upwards.

# At Liulishuo

2019

Apr 30, 2019 at 7:44 PM
Resignation letter
2013.5.4 - 2019.4.30, six years, employee number 7, from Hangzhou to Shanghai, from starting in a residential house to IPO, from designer to design management and then to business leader, experiencing growth, maturity, transformation, with its pains and joys, fulfilling and exciting. I’m grateful for this unique and unforgettable journey during the golden period of my life; thanks to Yi, Ben, and Hui for their recognition and care; thanks to my coworkers (I really want to mention names, but I’m afraid headhunters will poach you, hehe), you are talented, sincere, and open; thanks to my design team partners (you guys are amazing~), Kids project partners (you guys are awesome~); thanks to the colleagues who helped, cared for, and tolerated me along the way; thanks to my wife’s love, support, and sacrifice; thanks to my children for their love; blessings to Liulishuo! Blessings to my colleagues and friends at Liulishuo! Finally, thanks to my God, through peaks and valleys, He has always guided me, helped me, and through people and events at Liulishuo, has grown my faith. Without God, I would have given up long ago. Thank you!

Apr 24, 2019 at 3:41 PM
Said goodbye to Summer and had a coffee.
Got to see another side of Wang Yi from a former coworker’s perspective. Indeed, I felt sorry for these former coworkers, as the company’s IPO didn’t bring them much benefit (this view might be one-sided). But really, there’s nothing to complain about. Everyone’s expectations differ. Perhaps, Wang Yi and others could have been a bit more humane. (During the IPO, Wang Yi didn’t invite former colleagues to attend, I had thoughts about that myself)
But anyway, up to this point, Wang Yi is someone who follows the rules. (Of course, the change in stock option exercise ratio is something I thought about too. But perhaps I’m considered a vested interest party.)

Apr 24, 2019 at 12:08 PM
Yesterday was a tiring day. Came home and fell asleep curled up on the sofa.
But actually, there wasn’t a heavy workload yesterday.
I need faith. After planning out my tasks, I need to be able to smoothly switch from one task to the next and adjust my mood and state (need a bit of rest and adjustment). Otherwise, I always linger and worry over one matter.

Apr 23, 2019 at 5:15 PM
Lately, I’ve been organizing my work at Liulishuo, summarizing achievements. But actually, there’s a lot worth reflecting on. Briefly, here are some things:

• In design, I could be bolder. The core interactive experience could be more impressive. What I now see as achievements would probably be even better if another designer did it. I just seized the opportunity;
• During product development, design can be more proactive, adding more value. Due to my personality, the design team has been reserved, supportive rather than leading;
• My personal design methods can be more professional. For example: user research, competitive product research. (Of course, I don’t think being overly academic is suitable)
• For the design team, my standards and requirements need to be stricter; for cross-team collaboration, I need more persistence and skilled communication, not easily compromising on the right things;

Apr 22, 2019 at 1:31 PM
Finished talking with Wang Yi. He asked me: Nearly 40, are you still polishing your resume? Later he also asked: What makes you happy? He suggested I really take a break and see what my dreams are.
During this, I said, as a designer, one must experience a design consultancy. Wang Yi said, what is it nowadays that must be done? Regarding the future, you haven’t thought it through, you lack confidence.
I really admire his insight.
Talking about my state in the past two months, I frankly said that I’ve had many worries and not much rest. When asked the reason, I said it’s because I have no grasp over finances.
I really am someone who relies on sight, without faith, not a shred. Only what I have in hand feels secure. But even when it’s in hand, I still worry, fearing gains and losses.

Apr 22, 2019 at 11:35 AM
Having lunch with Wang Yi later, there probably won’t be many more chances for lunch together. Mainly want to discuss:

• Feelings of the past two months: it’s not a must to leave. Thanks to Forrest’s suggestion;
• Feelings
• Personal growth: within the company, growth should aim at business goals. It’s a team, not a family;
  • Confusion about career development, midlife crisis;
• Direction
  • Completing design recognition and experience: design consultancy;
  • Go to more mature companies to refine design abilities and design management skills; (WeChat)
  • Start my own design consultancy;
  • Design partner (seeking recommendations)
• Next steps
  • Farewell email (Sprout TL & OKR TL)
  • OneDrive files, transfer to Knife, Xiao Fan;
  • Consultant? Haven’t figured out how to contribute yet.
  • Stock option follow-up arrangement;

Apr 22, 2019 at 11:26 AM
Around 8:50 in the morning, I finally submitted my resignation on WeChat Work. Inside, I’ve been very conflicted. After about two months of cooling down, I don’t think I have to leave Liulishuo. Liulishuo now and in the future still has a lot of room suitable for me. But the decision has been made.

I had to come before God and pray. My faith in God is small, almost nonexistent. Inside me is immense anxiety and insecurity. Who am I? Can I control my own future? Regarding my decision to leave, I feel regret. If I was calm enough, perhaps I wouldn’t have made this decision. I placed this regret and the worry of making a “wrong step leading to many wrong steps” in prayer. At the same time, I placed my insecurity and lack of faith in prayer. All I can do is pray. Lord, please help me.

Apr 19, 2019 at 11:03 AM
In the morning, Liu Yahui talked to me about being the Leader of the Sprout Design Team. Because of this, along with recent communications with Jing and Forrest, I admit, I don’t necessarily have to leave Liulishuo. But I’ve already said it, so I have to do it.

During this process of leaving, I had a few reflections:

• Open communication. With Leaders, colleagues, friends. When communicating, let go of emotions and biases;
• Insufficient, not thorough thinking. Why leave? Must I? Is there another place to add value?
• Calmness.

Regarding the future, I’m not clear right now. I’m creating trouble for myself, bringing uncertainty. Even though this uncertainty is inevitable. I need to figure out what I really want.

To be honest with myself, the real reason for leaving Liulishuo is: hoping that income from options allows me to take a break.

Facing the unknown and challenges. Based on this, simply working for an internet company for income isn’t the right direction. Challenging myself to start a studio, go to IDEO, FROG, or study theology. These challenges are not just for myself, but for the kids. Seek stability?

Sharing is the most important part of the thinking process. In the upcoming time, I should summarize and share past insights and experiences about design, entrepreneurship, team management, communication.

Organize. Take everything out > Set categories > Classify. Organize items, computer files, ideas in this way.

My priorities: Relationships (with God, people (wife, kids, parents)) > …

Structured thinking. (What is structured thinking?)

Even if very busy, I need to keep focusing on one of the kids’ courses. Build the foundational logical thinking for this course.

Calling.

Before being called, fulfill my responsibilities (housework). Sacrifice loving others.

Mar 12, 2019 at 5:22 PM
Ten minutes ago, Forrest found me and suggested I reconsider my decision to leave Liulishuo:
One, the mutual trust I built with Wang Yi and Ben is very rare, and leaving would be a loss for both parties. Two, think about a win-win role positioning at Liulishuo. And, communicate more with Wang Yi about this; (He mentioned he once talked to Ben about the company’s lack of company-level management in branding and user experience. Customer complaints often happen after the fact.)
Three, the risk of monetization, the temptation of potential wealth, and management risks;
He’s put a lot of thought into the above.
I’m very grateful for his advice.

Mar 12, 2019 at 3:27 PM
First, face reality: issues with direction and professional confusion won’t have accurate answers in just a few months, or even a year’s time. Just try your best.
The second feeling is, these issues should be placed in prayer. For me, relying on my own thoughts alone makes it hard to think clearly, and it’s easy to become anxious due to external conditions lacking.
Moreover, at the age of 36, I can’t compromise because of external conditions any longer. I should do what I want to do, do those things that I’ll regret not doing later. External conditions include finances, ability, opportunities. I should create the conditions.
I’m quite impressed with Wang Wei from Rayark’s animation, already six years into entrepreneurship in the animation field, repeatedly trying despite setbacks. The recent “White Snake,” perhaps, is a turning point. As for me, if I want to do something, can I extend the timeline to 6-7 years? Can I persist? For example, making T-shirts.

Mar 11, 2019 at 9:43 AM
Yesterday, I tried rehabilitation training at Nuobao and it felt great.
Fitness should be part of daily life and not overlooked. There should be a budget for fitness in family life.
From my personal experience, fitness should start from childhood. Because habits related to exercise, diet, and body attention develop from an early age. They can either be lifelong benefits or lifelong troubles. I’m the latter. Walking with my head down due to low self-esteem led to consciously and forcibly keeping a chest-out, stomach-in posture for years, leading to muscle tension, which is the reason for my current discomfort (this is from a coach’s analysis and I think it’s reasonable).
Today is Monday, it should be a workday, but I’m still at home.
I’m anxious. On one hand, I don’t know what to specifically do at the company; on the other hand, there’s anxiety about direction: what to do next.

Mar 7, 2019 at 3:13 PM
There’s a huge sense of failure.
In the Phonics project, many core issues, like: Why did we choose Phonics for the first product? Why sell courses by time instead of annually? Also, several management issues: Chris’s positioning issues, performance feedback to Chris.
I dug a lot of holes for Xiaofan. Some of these holes are related to my ability and experience. Some are related to my attitude: had I been more serious and dedicated, the situation would be much better.
But why is it that, no matter where I am, I can’t quiet down inside, always so restless, lacking a sense of security?
I really want a reboot.

Mar 4, 2019 at 2:49 PM
Through recent interactions, I’ve realized that the time and money needed for physical rehabilitation training aren’t as much as I imagined. Weekly training of one or two times should be manageable both time-wise and financially.
I hope that during the one or two months of rest, my body can recover to some extent and I can develop a fitness habit.
Also, English needs to be tackled with time.

Mar 4, 2019 at 2:45 PM
Saw Liulishuo’s newest office, Lydia said, Building B + C has 3900 workstations. Huge. Finally feels like a big company.
The decor is still familiar.
Walking through several offices, not many people I recognize.
Suddenly felt a strong sense of saying goodbye to Liulishuo, saying goodbye to this phase of life.

Feb 26, 2019 at 9:02 AM
Yesterday, there was a lot of anxiety about the future’s uncertainty, about my career, and direction.
This morning, I prayed to God.
In prayer, I realized my selfishness, only caring about my own benefit and interests, not caring at all for the needs of my team, colleagues, and brothers. Lack of love.
With eyes focused only on myself, the world becomes smaller and narrower, full of worry and insecurity.
Caring for others, or even just planning to care for others, begins to ease my inner anxiety.
Ultimately, I’m lacking love. And I also need love. Love comes from God.

Feb 25, 2019 at 7:10 PM
Will I continue doing design in the future? Or serve full-time if the financial conditions allow it? (I lack confidence)

Feb 21, 2019 at 10:37 AM
Focus: 1. Plan; 2. Focus on execution.

Feb 20, 2019 at 6:26 PM
Finished communicating with the team today. Everyone’s reaction was fairly normal. Some colleagues expressed gratitude towards me. I thank them too.
Afterwards, chatted with Xiaofan about work. At the end, talked about Christian faith.
I admire Xiaofan’s attitude of focusing on the core of the issue. Asked several questions in a row, I answered with difficulty.

• How does Christianity view work?
• When family life conflicts with work, what is Christianity’s perspective? (Specific principles, scripture references?)
• What is God?
  I need a clear, essence-pursuing mindset to look at issues in faith and life.
  Also, I was impressed by the story “The Woodcutter Seeking Buddha While Chopping Wood.” Focused wood chopping - living and working. As a Christian, what attitude should I take to focus on living and working?

Feb 18, 2019 at 10:58 PM
Recently made an important decision.
In the eyes of friends around me, even when I calm down to think, this decision is irrational and impulsive.
Facing the unknown, I fall into a sense of failure.
In the evening I told Yanbing, I’m a clueless person, looking back at the decisions I’ve made, almost all have been irrational and impulsive.
In 2006, I decided to head to Hangzhou due to a relationship heartbreak;
In April 2008, although I didn’t fully understand Jesus Christ, I decided to get baptized (because I thought, sooner or later I’ll believe, getting baptized earlier didn’t matter);
In November 2008, I boldly confessed and proposed a relationship because I heard a sister was returning home for matchmaking after church and I didn’t want to miss such a good match;
In 2009, within a few months of dating, I decided to marry Yanbing;
In 2010, quickly joined Misa’s Skull Island Tech due to a colleague’s recommendation;
In 2011, impulsively left Alibaba, giving up on a small fortune in stock;
In 2013, joined Liulishuo as the 7th employee, when my daughter was 3 years old, in a startup in a residential building;
In 2014, decided on a second child despite financial struggles;
In 2015, decided to have the kids attend an alternative school;
In 2019, made a new decision;
Compared to friends around me, I’m very immature and unstable, quite clueless and impulsive. But up to now, these irrational decisions (marriage also clueless?) haven’t really brought me hardships or misfortunes. As a Christian, I firmly believe in God’s guidance behind it all. I’m muddle-headed but always have God’s leading and care.
Facing new unknowns. The external environment is uncertain, good or bad. But I need to learn to rely on God every day.

Feb 18, 2019 at 12:08 PM
When Xiao Fan started getting involved, I realized my gaps in project management. For instance, the project and team didn’t have OKRs.
I looked at the OKRs from Liulishu, they’re done well, with numbers and reviews.
If I had to find a reason, I’d say it’s because, during my years at Liulishu, the OKR thing got overdone, with no real effect. Deep down, I don’t really trust this tool.
But really, if someone asked: What’s the goal for the Sprout content team this year and in Q1? I don’t have an answer for that. OKRs could provide that answer.
Since I’m leaving, facing past inadequacies, I just want to “get it over with.” But that’s an escape. I should use this remaining time to confront issues. Reflect well.

Feb 15, 2019 at 2:19 PM
There’s a conclusion: I’m tentatively set to leave the company at the end of April. Xiao Fan will take over the Sprout business.
I was quite surprised when I got the news.
I’m basically quitting without a backup plan, and it really does make me a bit anxious about the uncertainty ahead.
I pray the Lord guides me.
—
Though I’m not sure what’s next, I feel a bit that it’s time to leave. Leaving is right, it’s God’s guidance (there’s still a bit of peace in my heart); just like when I joined Liulishu in ‘13.
I also have some interest-related matters to resolve, which I’m putting in prayer. Praying for the Lord’s guidance.

Feb 15, 2019 at 12:19 PM
Communicated two things with Wang Yi:

• From the heart, valuing products and users is the best encouragement and influence for the team (work effort);
• Need to focus and dive deep into product development; give necessary time to polish the product, hold steady;
• Before leaving, promptly communicate any status changes;

Feb 14, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Maybe, as an experienced product experiencer, I can periodically provide overall feedback and experience reports. Just at the right time with two kids, when guiding them and interacting with them, I can do some business work.

Feb 14, 2019 at 9:58 AM
When experiencing a product, the most subtle feelings should be recorded. For example, I found:

1. For the first three times, accompaniment is needed: operation guidance, learning discipline. Afterwards, it can basically be placed on the table and let them complete independently; (now the app can fully operate automatically within an episode, but the transition between episodes isn’t guided well, making kids easily get lost)
   1. Auto operation is great (I’m a lazy parent). But kids need breaks. So, a “mid-break” feature needs to be designed: 1. It should be a black screen; 2. Include some elements: story? music? jokes? guide kids to close their eyes and do eye exercises? 3. So that kids are willing to come back and continue learning;
2. Able to start reading mixed words, such as: foot, fish, fun. Couldn’t do this before;
3. A tiny sense of rhythm. For example: fun, fun, fun, they can read with a bit of “tone,” previously it was the same monotone sound;
4. During chant playback, they’ll hum along. Before, it was just listening;
5. Third time learning when my son clicked on showtime and saw a story illustration, he immediately “protested” saying: learned it, learned it. Demands to switch to other content.

Feb 13, 2019 at 10:29 PM
I need to sort out some essential issues related to family direction, lifestyle, career choices, children’s education, design, and faith, and seek answers.

Feb 13, 2019 at 10:21 PM
It’s undeniable that I’m still interested in “discovering problems, solving problems.” I could be a designer, I could be a product manager.
I got home early today, left work at 4:30, calculating from the 10 o’clock start time, excluding lunch and rest, I worked for just 5 hours. Physically, I could handle it. It’s a short amount of time, but I still focused and solved several problems. Working fully for 5 hours a day is a future goal.
After coming home in the evening and the kids are asleep, there’s actually 2 hours of free time. Because nothing is scheduled, I felt a bit aimless, spending about 40 minutes watching the old movie “Fist of Fury.” Then, I wanted to read, but didn’t know where to start, should it be design books or faith books?
Ultimately, spent the time before bed writing these thoughts.

Feb 13, 2019 at 11:47 AM
After returning from the Spring Festival, as a project leader, I’m feeling very confused about what to do next.
For an adjustment and rest, on Monday and Tuesday, I left work at 4:30, went home, and helped my son learn phonics. Meanwhile, in two groups, truly assuming a parent role, watching and communicating.
After these two days, I gained a lot.
In terms of product experience, version 1.3, I think I can give it 75 points (previously it was 70). Some experiences, effects, were quite surprising;
In the user community, many good creations were produced, lively creations that touched people. If users are willing to continuously share in WeChat Moments, it will influence those around them (word of mouth).
What’s the key to winning in a “beginner’s red ocean”? It’s user word of mouth. Think about how “Wandering Earth” became a hit during the Spring Festival? Word of mouth.
So-called word of mouth is when users feel compelled to tell people around them about your product or service. Not telling others makes users uncomfortable.
Seeing users earnestly using the product, the product enabling children to gain and grow is a sense of achievement and enjoyment.
I think these two days of “unusual” work are worth it. When confused, when not knowing what to do next, should take some time to calm down and go among the users.
At the end of the day, it’s all about love. The source of love is Christ.
I was originally very confused, but by relying on morning prayer, today I was able to find strength.

Feb 12, 2019 at 11:42 AM
Though not interested in work, I can really enjoy writing reading notes, reading, and Bible study. Maybe my interests are shifting. Perhaps I shouldn’t force myself to get interested in something I’m uninterested in but should naturally follow my inner self.
At the same time, I should guard against avoiding something because I’m afraid of the difficulty.

Feb 11, 2019
Why can’t I muster any interest in work?

Feb 11, 2019
Two rules for work:

1. Don’t think about personal matters (like direction, confusion, etc.) during work hours;
2. Plan, execute; do your best;

Jan 26, 2019
I think I’m pretty “ill.”
Just, compared to the past, now it seems I have a bit of capital to pause and rest.
I’m directionless, drifting with the wind. Is it emptiness or depression?

Jan 24, 2019
At night listened to a frog brain sharing “don’t fear new challenges.”
Currently, leading the business at Liulishu is indeed a huge challenge for me. It’s like no other I’ve had. On one hand, I think I shouldn’t give up easily. On the other hand, I’m exhausted, need to rest, and then move forward again.
A bit torn.

Jan 24, 2019
Everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Jan 7, 2019 at 10:21 AM
I’ve never been certain about leaving Liulishu, though I’ve made this decision, I always feel like I made it “muddled.”
Driving to work and praying in the morning, I felt: God wants to push me to the next stage of life. The next stage, whether it’s becoming more proficient in design or becoming a fisher of men (car background music), I’m not too sure yet. But I have this feeling.
I admit, I’m too limited, have made many decisions in the past that in hindsight were very naive and incomplete, but God has led me all along.
I also admit how much I rely on money and the environment. I pray God leads me and allows me to rely on Him completely. I courageously declare, all I have now and potential earnings, if God wants to take them, take them. Pray for God to train my faith.
Also, I value others’ opinions of me so much, even in the last few months at Liulishu, I care so much about my boss’s and colleagues’ evaluations of me. Valuing others’ opinions has positive aspects, but also limits my freedom. Pray for the Lord to lead my work, doing it before Him.

Jan 4, 2019
Wang Yi has been arranging for HR to find a new business leader.
Sometimes I still wonder: Was the decision to leave too impulsive? I’ve been questioning myself. I’ve listed so many reasons, but maybe I’m just avoiding pressure. (Though my body really couldn’t take it)

Jan 3, 2019
I’ve been puzzled by a question these past couple of days: Why do I want to leave Liulishuo? Is it a must? What’s the reason for leaving? After thinking on my own and discussing with Yanbing, I’ve come up with these:

1. My body needs rest and exercise (though staying at Liulishuo, I could indeed find time to exercise);
2. Spend more time with the kids, help them, influence them; (Liulishuo’s working hours are too late. Not just Liulishuo, the whole industry is like this. Additionally, even if I have free time, will I truly provide quality companionship?)
3. I need a break, a pause. This is true. I’ve got many career confusions, many personal direction confusions. I hope to understand the direction for the next 7 years;
4. Want to schedule some time for a comprehensive understanding of the Bible. (I hope this isn’t an excuse. If I truly yearn for God’s word, I should start now. Morning and evening Bible reading as planned;)
5. Hope for a chance to rearrange life order (time distribution), even if it might be at the cost of reducing the kids’ education level and living standard. (Thankfully, there should be enough money to support this adjustment)
   As for the 7 years, I wonder, is this God’s rhythm for me? Before age 14, lived with parents; 7 years of high school and college away from parents; 7 years after graduation living in Hangzhou, now almost 7 years in Shanghai, where is the next 7 years?
   Seeing this article from “Homeschool Alliance” here, I have the thought that perhaps everything I’ve learned at Liulishuo is for this.

Jan 2, 2019
Because of the clear idea of leaving, my investment in work has been far from ideal, with many absent-minded moments.

Jan 2, 2019
Work for Liulishuo until April 30 (unless Wang Yi lets me go earlier).
From now, it calculates to about 14 weeks.
Pray that the Lord leads me to think about how I can serve Liulishuo well during this time.

2018

Dec 24, 2018
Every project sync meeting, Wang Yi would get angry. It’s true we haven’t done well enough. But there are many objective reasons too. Still, I really don’t like this overly tense atmosphere.

Dec 19, 2018
Wednesday fasting and prayer today.
One realization is: the best way to help Liulishuo is to leave Liulishuo. Become Wang Yi’s friend. I can pray for Liulishuo, pray for Wang Yi and his family, provide external advice to Liulishuo (design report, user research), and help the Christian employees at Liulishuo.

Dec 5, 2018
Try my best in my duties!
6 months of commercial design started; (reading, asking, practicing)

Dec 4, 2018
Today got roasted by Boss Zhu in the company meeting. He asked about my expectations for Phonics conversion in the “Understand You” community, and I blindly guessed 20%. It was a huge joke. After the meeting, learned that out of three thousand, the conversion was only 2-3%;
But I slightly felt the fun of being a product manager.

Dec 2, 2018
I need to make a financial plan. Every time I’ve thought about financial planning, I have two feelings: One, it’s useless; Two, guilt, feeling I’ll get caught up in planning money. Today I read Pat’s book, “Balanced Wisdom,” which talks about this. I think I need to face financial planning.

Dec 2, 2018
A bit conflicted. On one hand, I think the workplace at Liulishuo is a great place to expand God’s kingdom; on the other, I really want a pause, a rest, to think. Pray for the Lord’s guidance.

Nov 28, 2018
The way to worship God at work is to set your mind before God, to wholeheartedly work after praying.

Nov 27, 2018
Proposed a time plan with Lao Wang, 6 months.
Lao Wang gave me some options, like product & design training, a 3-month rest, etc. But in the end, still decided to leave. The biggest reason is I feel the pressure working under him is too much. (Of course, he’s still a very good boss. Decisive, open to communication. Especially, open to communication;)

Nov 26, 2018
Time management:

• Prioritize important over pleasant things;
• Focus on one thing for a whole block of time;
• Effectiveness matters more than efficiency;
• Record your feelings;

Stress and Challenges at Liulishuo Work

Project. I’m afraid of project failure. On one hand, it’s out of responsibility; on the other, I’m afraid of being underestimated.
Team. The team is unstable; many colleagues aren’t in the right state, they’re just finishing tasks. I’ve neglected team management and managing through leaders. I’m full of worries, but because of “introversion, inferiority, procrastination,” I take no action;
Ability. I’m very lacking in business, team management, and verbal expression. When I see myself, in work, in front of the team, I feel powerless, lack confidence. Lord, there were a few times I entrusted to you and gained strength. But most of the time, ignorant rebellious me, strayed from you, relying on my own pitiful experience and ability.
Tired. Very tiring, but not unbearable. Though out at 9, home by 10, every day I can still schedule 30 minutes to lie down and rest; and compared to before, now I drive, have more freedom. But inside, I still want it easier, tired.
Lord, what kind of life suits me? What’s my direction? I’m a bit lost. Once I get the first chunk of money according to my plan next year, I plan to leave Liulishuo. Is this the path you want me to take?

Aug 1, 2018
Lord, please strengthen my faith in you, guide me to clearly know you, grant me the courage to follow your will, your word. Lead me to let go of my own thoughts and the evaluations and expectations of people around me. Pray that the Lord guides me to entrust my and my family’s life to you. Guide us to know you.
Lord, please help me understand your will. Let me hold onto you, give me the courage to follow your will.
Regarding working 6 days a week:

• I need to rest;
• I need time to be with family and kids;
• Other colleagues feel the same. It’s just that most people choose silence, choose forced acceptance. If I give up my life just to earn millions to buy a house in Shanghai and live a seemingly normal urban life, what impact does this have on my fellow single and married brothers and sisters in the church? They might say, “We should work as hard as Wang Nan.” Then there’s the thought, “God isn’t fair. Why him and not me?” ‘It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.’ Romans 14:21 So if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. 1 Corinthians 8:13 Paul, if eating food causes your brother to fall, you will never eat meat; if buying a house causes your brother to fall, will you never buy a house? Pastor Feng Junlan said that as a preacher, he has no car, no house, and his largest savings is just 100,000 yuan; the young Christian families of Early Rain Reformed Church say they don’t pursue having a car or a house and are content. This is the light and salt that encourages young people struggling against the tides of worldly values. Jesus said that if anyone wants to follow him, they must deny themselves and take up their cross to follow him. Jesus even said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Can someone who loves “providing a stable environment for the family” more than Jesus be a disciple of Jesus? When “gaining the whole world” cannot balance with “life,” what do I choose? With my current job, even if I don’t work six days a week, the work hours and intensity have left me with no time for family, no time to accompany my kids, and no spiritual life at home. Meanwhile, it’s harming my health. Because of this, I can accept living conditions that are a bit lower. I don’t have to live in Shanghai; I can go back to Changsha. I don’t have to go to the academy; public school or homeschooling is also an option. Reading and listening to God’s word isn’t that hard. Doing it, that’s not easy. Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:35

Nov 2, 2018
After Xunzi, another colleague, Qiao Zhi, proposed to resign. There are several major reasons: 1. Lack of timely feedback related to her work; 2. No fixed time regularly scheduled for one-on-ones; 3. Poor handling regarding her position, level, and the joining of her new leader. We tried to persuade Qiao Zhi to stay, but the hope is slim. Don’t neglect the team. Balance business with the team. This morning in prayer, I felt moved to treat colleagues with love.

Oct 29, 2018
My current job is really tough. The physical tiredness comes from various kinds of mental stress from people. Last night around eight or nine, I was teaching Elim multiplication and division. I felt, this kind of life is what I want.

Aug 26, 2018

Sense of Mission

I admit, I don’t have a sense of mission. Or, I haven’t found my mission yet. Everything I do is just for the family, for myself. Where is there a sense of working for others’ benefit, for a particular group’s benefit, or even for the benefit of the country? A year or two ago, I often felt emptiness in work. The book “The Meaning of Work” influenced me a lot. In the past year or two, the emptiness at work has lessened. I am trying my best to adhere to and experience God’s command to humanity at creation: to govern and manage the world. I also deeply feel that challenging, stressful work, along with dealing with all sorts of interpersonal relationships at work, is refining, shaping, and perfecting my character. I am convinced this is the value or meaning of work. Recently, in conversations with faith elders, I realized my understanding of work is still very narrow, self-centered, and selfish. At the core, my efforts to follow biblical teachings are for my own benefit, lacking the heart to love God and love others. Work ought to create value, and it should be for the benefit of others, to create value. To speak commercially, it’s to create value for users. From my superficial life experience, when I only focus on myself, I don’t feel the value and meaning of life. When I do something beneficial for others, I feel fulfilled, a sense of value, and accomplishment inside. Back to the topic of a sense of mission. A valuable life needs to be driven by a sense of mission; a valuable company needs to be driven by a sense of mission. So where does a mission come from? Often, we hear individuals or companies saying this is our mission or that is our mission. It seems mission is set by “me.” But from a faith perspective, I believe mission is something received from God. As Isaiah 6:8 says: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’” This is mission. And what I need to do is to say, “Here am I. Send me!” I just turned 35 a couple weeks ago. Life is about halfway done. So, how will I use the other half?

Jul 26, 2018

• There’s really a lot of stress and anxiety now. Because the project timeline is tight, I have no confidence in the project’s prospects.
• My body feels so tired. I worry about my health;
• All the time goes into work. Work occupies too much time. I need to slow down. I need to communicate with Wang Yi. I ask the Lord for guidance.
• I lack faith, staying away from God for a week with only superficial lip service prayers. I ask the Lord to forgive me. I have no confidence in “arranging time reasonably,” in scheduling project time, not objective, just meeting the boss’s expectations; I ask the Lord to help my faith, to believe in God’s sovereignty;
• Family scheduling.

Jul 20, 2018

• News of Liuli’s IPO is spreading. Getting closer to money, I increasingly feel the temptation of money: placing the quality of life, children’s education, and external honor on money. Before, I prayed, saying “Lord, if you want to take it away, take it away,” still I can pray this now, but with less willingness and purity. Lord, ask you to lead me, not to be bound by money, not to worship money, letting me honor you above all.
• Taking stock options, or doing a trust for tax avoidance? I previously thought more from the perspective of my own interests. Recently, as I prepare the sermon on “Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow the Lord,” regarding stock options or trust, I have not denied myself—given up my own thoughts to seek prayer;
• I ask the Lord to lead me in preparing the sermon. Lord, show me your will. My heart is full of pride, constantly wanting to show off myself, seek others’ praise, asking the Lord to cleanse me. This is the Lord’s own word.

Jul 19, 2018

• Thank God. E***y & *Si’s colleague relationship has changed, both sides open to communication. Thank God for giving me the thought to share with them using biblical words; (pray for them);
• Thank God, even though I was busy until midnight last night, the prayer before sleep led to a very restful sleep;
• Thank God. Through prayer and meditating on God, giving the result to God, therefore I can genuinely communicate work situations with YI. In result, he acknowledges and understands;
• I ask the Lord to lead me, to place all worries, troubles, burden, and stress in prayers, to entrust them to my Lord, my God;

Jul 17, 2018

• The handling of E***y & *Si’s relationship;
• Hand over work pressure and burdens to God; trust God;
• Work arrangement with wisdom, order, and courage;
• Physical exercise;
• Have time for reading: related to Puritans;
• Have time with family;

Jul 10, 2018
Seemingly entering IPO stage. The allure of money has become more specific. When my heart is occupied by money, there is no joy in work itself.

Jun 20, 2018
Paul Washer: On Hurry_Tencent Video
Set priorities in life. The most important thing is to read God’s word and draw near to God; Secondly, interpersonal relationships, the most important being the one with your wife. Fulfill the responsibility of a husband, love your wife, communicate with her; thirdly, the duty of a father; Work, strive to work hard, work with focus;

Jun 20, 2018
Want to set a deadline, like May 4, 2019. Think of some considerations:

• Accompany the wife. Accompany the child, guide them; (not necessarily leaving Shanghai)

• Accompany parents; (this involves going back to Changsha)

  • Family vision; (this needs prayer)

Jun 19, 2018

To have a stable life with a family atmosphere and family companions, I can lower my standard of living.

Jun 4, 2018
I have to admit, in adversity, in challenges, I’m more inclined to rely on God and have more opportunities to grow. But the challenges are great, the pressure is immense. Sometimes, it’s to a level that I don’t want to face.
God reigns. I am His servant, whether I succeed or fail, whether I am honored or disgraced, I am in God’s hands. My direction, future, needs, are all in God’s hands. Lord, please guide me, may what I do by hand be accomplished according to your will. It’s good if I succeed; if I fail, it’s okay too.

1 Jun 2018
Didn’t feel good last night.
I still can’t experience a sense of accomplishment at work, all I have is chaos and pressure, plus my capabilities aren’t enough.
Every day is like this. I can’t help but ask myself: do I really have to bear the pressure, make myself uncomfortable, for life to feel fulfilling and challenging?
Can’t I enjoy my work?
Even wondering what’s the future significance of me choosing to lead projects? To be honest, I don’t enjoy such high-intensity and long work hours.

May 28, 2018
Yesterday was my first time preaching. While preparing for the sermon, I felt my lack in the Bible. I only have a very superficial, fragmented understanding of the core issues of faith. There were many logical loopholes in the sermon content. Lord, I’m really unworthy.
In the morning, I listened to Pastor Yu Hongjie’s sermon and had two insights: 1. As he said, we should have a heart to “be fruitful and multiply,” to pass on faith and help children, the younger generation; 2. Why am I exhausting myself completely at work (13-14 hours)? What if I devote this energy to serving? (Warning: don’t use this as an excuse to avoid the current work pressure)
How long am I going to work like this? Will I preach in the future? Currently, the pressure is high, concerning good education and housing. What if I give up on these two aspects in life? What if the rent is expensive, and we live even further away? What if conditions get worse?
Raising children is to prepare God’s warriors. Education and character are important, but more important is faith. Family education can only be passed through words and deeds. If a child thinks “adults are lying to us,” the foundation of education is shaken. Above knowledge and character, having a clear sense of value and mission is more difficult, more precious, and also what I lack. Now, what impression am I as a father giving to my two children, especially to Eather? A father busy with work, not a father who follows God; a family striving for life, not a family striving for faith, mission, and vision.
I need to pray for current work, and also need to pray for future direction.

Now, even though life seems tiring, there’s still time to read God’s word and draw close to Him. From 5:30 - 6:30 in the morning, from 10:00 - 11:00 at night, also need to exercise.

May 17, 2018

Lord, thank you! I come before you with work and life problems, worries, and chaos, and pray to you. With prayer, clear thoughts emerge. In the past, I thought these were my thoughts, not inspirations from you. Now, I must admit that they are inspirations from you. Honestly, I still think that clarity in thought is because I handed over my “anxieties and worries” to God, so my mind became open, and the “ideas” themselves are still from me (maybe not wrong). But who am I to boast about having thoughts? I am still from God.

May 14, 2018
At different life stages, there are different things to do (missions). At a certain stage, accumulating wealth isn’t an evil thing. After all, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
Always talking about direction, I think, set a 2-year direction at Liulishuo. Within these two years, I want to do things around project development, project management, and team building.

February 19, 2018
Yang Ke: A child’s education shouldn’t be the direct reason you change cities. You should think about your direction and career as a couple.
Is there anything you want to do? In the four or five years at Liulishuo, “in terms of ideas, following your heart,” I compromised. I accepted doing things I didn’t necessarily like, accepted working with people and methods I didn’t really admire;
The two weeks before the end of the year, life was completely occupied by work. Unknowingly, I was filled with pride, selfish desires, and the need to please others, sometimes full of confidence, sometimes feeling utterly inferior and anxious. A weirdo. I drifted away from God.
Lord, please bring me back.

January 18, 2018
Public Speaking Skills:

• Don’t care about what you’re saying. Or rather, don’t listen to yourself talk. Just express what you want to express.
• When excited, you can
  • Pause
  • Speak slowly
  • Pose a question, then pause
  • Do some relaxing gestures: rub your hands

January 15, 2018
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7
What is the fight I must fight? What is the road I must run? What is the faith I must keep?
Yanbing said to me, living without understanding vision and guidance is really hard. Because small things in life can cause wavering. I think it is the same as “where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Lord, my heart is still bound by money and worldly enjoyment, preventing me from fully placing myself before you. Please lead me, let me understand your will for me, let me have a fight to fight, a road to run.

April 9, 2018
Five-year Exchange

1. In the past, why were there changes? 2. The experience of prayer; 3. Love 4. No interesting projects at Liulishuo (possibly other companies too. Perfect projects might not exist)

• New direction for the next 2 - 3 years
  • There’s a timeline for work at Liulishuo. Need to do other things.
  • Some ideas:
    • Design management is just starting to improve. There’s still a lot to complete. (6 months)
      • Clarify requirements, set standards (leading projects, leading people)
      • Establish mechanisms (review)
    • Cross-team communication and coordination; (long term)
    • Shadows of failure. (community project, video project)
    • Balance work-life health - Time can be arranged and coordinated;
    • Direction 1: 2C Kids product (elementary stage). Direction 2: Project lead for 2B product; want to be “project lead” to have more control over projects, to realize good ideas. Take Tomato English as an example. In summary: 1. Persevering with good ideas is important; 2. Objective feedback and obtaining feedback;)
    • Why 2C Kids product?
      • From what I see in children’s schools, starting point is low (WeChat, Lizhi, etc. very easy to “systemically” be tool-based);
      • There are users around;

1. Utterly truthful, utterly transparent - Speaking the truth in love 2. Personally, I really like this principle. (Unified). Several recommended books or viewpoints are valuable: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Crucial Conversations, Principles; 3. About Neo’s departure 4. What are the reasons? Need to explain. Affects morale;
   • Principles need top-level practice, role modeling;
   • Need to build trust with the middle level; (Taking myself as an example. Worry about company’s revenue) (3 months)
   • Build relationships with the middle and lead (overthinking). Need to invest time, focus on growth. (Li Hui is a “half” good example)

• Why is it a 7.5 score?
  1. First, to correct: If it’s about a job, my recent investment is 8 points; if it’s about a career, my investment is 7.5;
  2. Where are the points lost?
     • 1 point: Company culture. From top to bottom, there’s no genuine love for the product and language learning; no sense of mission or vision. No ideals.
     • 0.5 point: Self-positioning and team sense of belonging, relationship with the top level; (old employee? core employee? partner?)
     • 0.5 point:

February 2, 2018
What are the goals for team management in 2018? Is there a measurable goal?

January 22, 2018
What’s the issue with team management now?
Summary of communication:
Today I had a negotiation with Sally about the illustration team’s coordination. There’s a lot worth summarizing here.

On easily switching to Darwin.
Sally: It’s important to be easeful, need to support SKU.
Summary: It’s a flattering attitude. No consideration for the employees’ feelings. Possible reply: If someone leaves because the work is boring, can you take responsibility? Can you change styles with new content? The things needing support can be coordinated. The employees’ will is very important. I can’t force Chenchen to do Lingome. (I lack opinions, didn’t focus on the key points)

Should everything revert to CC after the term ends?

If leisure can’t turn to Darwin, an experienced employee should support.
First, persist and don’t easily give up your position. Second, make demands.

Repetitive
Should first clearly inquire about F’s needs and appeals.

And with F ’taking credit’
‘You see, winning over 4 people isn’t easy.’ In hindsight, that was foolish.

Communication with F
First of all, she’s a strong-willed person. For future designs and illustrations, show your stance in the initial and critical moments.

January 9, 2018
Yesterday, originally Sinsia came to chat with me and ask questions. But in the end, some questions actually inspired me. First of all, her introspective and summarizing attitude and method inspired me: living with clarity. Some interesting questions were:

• What’s your core competency in this team? Why is this your core competency?
• Why does the company need a design team? In other words, what’s the value of design to this company?
  This year new colleagues joined, very smart and potential young people. I feel a kind of pressure that I’m not competent enough and can’t give them good guidance. At the same time, I’m also worried they’ll leave because they don’t see growth.

I need to think about what the value of the design team (product design, illustration/animation, operational design) is to LingoLearn. In which direction should the team develop?

2018年1月1日
Due to back problems, I rested at home for over three weeks.
Tomorrow is a working day for the New Year, and I have no clear idea about the New Year’s work. Before bed, I spent some time praying, and felt these inspirations:

• Serve with love
• Help team members grow
• Act as a lubricant and bridge for cross-team communication, optimizing the process;
  My faith, capacity, and resources are inadequate, asking the Lord for help. This isn’t a rote prayer; I truly lack and truly believe the Lord can help me.

I really enjoy such prayer; through praying, I become more hopeful and empowered.

2017

November 28, 2017
Because of poor sleep, I’m physically exhausted and emotionally low. Because of this, I can’t get up in the morning to read the Bible, and I have no strength in my heart.
I really want to take some time to rest. Very tired.
The body needs to recover.

November 16, 2017
From former colleague OY, I learned that LingoLearn’s options can be exercised first, and taxed after listing (but you must leave to exercise). This is good news for me. But now, I feel it’s not yet time to leave LingoLearn, there are still things I want to do:

• Breaking through with the Lingome product;
• Building an innovative (design) team;
• Nurturing potential designers (interaction, UI, visual);
• Establishing a “growth-oriented” design team with a design atmosphere;

November 16, 2017
Recently I’ve been bound by money. I think Yanbing and I still have great expectations for financial freedom after LingoLearn goes public. Is this idol-worship? I think it is.
Yanbing mentioned buying a house. Who doesn’t want to buy? But forced by reality, I gave up that idea. Thus, with current savings, although education expenses are high, there is still no great pressure.
But once buying a house is mentioned, the pressure mounts. Then, naturally, hopes turn to the IPO. Then I wonder, what if there’s no IPO? Or what if I leave midway? (My health isn’t very good now) Anxiety follows closely.
I’m also questioning, is my faith, which makes me content without buying a house, genuine? Or is it just escapism and self-soothing?

Recently, cut off from God.

I use 20% of my option income for offerings, and I’m wavering on this act.
Before, Yanbing joked, “You’re not considered rich; in the church, everyone has a house, what are you proud of?”
Why should I give an “unnecessary” extra tenth in offerings?

In the morning, when I transferred recent money to my TB account, marking: how much for tithe, how much for overseas XJ, the verse “according to the talent entrusted” from Matthew flashed in my mind. I was moved to tithe for overseas XJ, recognizing its value: saving souls.

October 18, 2017
These days, Chenchen’s resignation made me reflect a lot on “Design Management”, as a team leader, the ultimate management question is: why did you decide to stay in this company? If even you’re not clear on this, if even you’re not firm, whether in daily management or conveying work’s value and sense of achievement, or retaining subordinates, it will all seem insincere and powerless.

Whenever I ponder “why stay at LingoLearn”, there’s a strong sense of void and meaninglessness regarding “work”. It even feels suffocating. I step into a small office to pray: asking the Lord to guide me, give me freedom, and understand His will. While praying about “why stay at LingoLearn,” I had some insights:

• Utilize my talents to help language learning users; (My team and I need to engage more with users)
• Serve the design team (and other colleagues) with love;
• Through work’s people and matters, discipline myself, improve myself, challenge myself (do reluctant but right things). Including professional skills, communication skills, leadership skills; (I often fear and reject changes, especially in character)
• Witness for the Lord;
• No divine urge prompting me to “leave”;
• About returns. I’m always bound by returns. I believe God has already provided what I need. I don’t want returns to be the reason I stay here.

26 Sep 2017
These days, I’m writing the design team’s 2017 Q4 OKRs.
I plan to continue working at LingoLearn. If it’s just about waiting for the listing, I might not hold on. I need a clear goal; otherwise, “waiting” here is too much of a waste of life.
I need to pray for this.

3 Aug 2017 10:19 AM
4 years is like college.
If I plan to stay at LingoLearn for 3 more years, what are my core courses, and what are electives? (During work time. In spare time, take care of family)
Core

1. English
2. Design skills (methods, techniques)
3. Design (team) management
4. Communication & expression
   Elective
5. Design sharing group

3 Aug 2017 9:41 AM
Lord, I’m unclear about my direction.
I also don’t know what I love.
Nor do I know what’s beneficial for me.
I’m deciding whether to take that money all at once or spread it over 12 months.
12 months implies I’d have to stay for 1 more year, and I’m not sure I can do that.
If that’s the case, what are the worthwhile things to do in that 1 year?
And after that year, when I leave LingoLearn, what’s next for me?

Sometimes I think, if I can stay 3 years, most likely I’ll achieve financial freedom. Then I’ll be 37 years old. Worldly speaking, that’s considered successful. I think, this isn’t what you’d be pleased with.

I’ll stay here. If you have a will, I’m willing to submit, even if it means letting go of work and wealth.

2 Aug 2017
For LingoLearn to succeed, these are the things to do.

1. Design team building
2. Provide product ideas for Lingome
3. Brand design with the marketing team

2 Aug 2017
Get work done well.
I lack this motivation. Always feel work lacks meaning and value. Always dissatisfied with the status quo. Always passive when encountering problems.
But never brought this state before God in prayer.

What can’t I stand the most in working at Liulishuo? Or rather, what’s the biggest challenge?

• Repeated failures during exploration;
• Cross-team collaboration;
  The reason I find it worthwhile to continue at Liulishuo is:
• I still need to grow: communication skills, team management skills, design skills, language skills;
• Explore a field — online language education. It might succeed, it might fail. But either way, there are gains;
• Material rewards;

1 Aug 2017
The effect of Dǒng Nǐ Yīngyǔ adaptation is unknown;
Lingome’s product has no direction, the PM is too weak, no ideas.
It’s a mess.

30 Jun 2017
Big product team building today. Talked about product ideas and also bid farewell to Li Hui.
When discussing products, I wasn’t actually that involved (learning about grid system design methods); occasionally made a few stammering contributions, not much insight (not in the right state).
Li Hui’s summary at the end gave me a huge shock.
Really admire him. Strong resilience, very gentle and graceful. Especially resilient, can withstand, endure great pressure, endure others’ negative comments, and get things done.

Many things are worth reflecting on.

My design ability is not enough, needs improvement.

• Reflect on the most commendable revision of Dǒng Nǐ 1.0. But actually, it was through Lance’s opposition and raised design standards that it became a result. What I did was just execution; (knowing the right standards is more important)
• Recent IELTS design reviews. Obvious interaction issues, user experience issues, I overlooked; review of products, interactions, not deep enough, only surface-level;
• When discussing with PM whether the freetalk report page bottom toolbar should float, I didn’t provide justified design reasons; only cited “who’s the professional” as the reason;
• As the industry talks about critical design \ service design, my understanding remains at the literal and fragmented articles. Haven’t seriously studied it;

Afraid to take responsibility

• Li Hui led this team without a sales background. Wang Yi didn’t dismiss him for lacking a sales background;
• I haven’t moved on from the Super community project, Play video project failures. Afraid to take responsibility;

Closed off, poor communication

• The design team personnel status issue, not timely communication, synchronization with Neo;
• Doubts about Liulishuo’s product direction, also didn’t frequently talk with Neo;
• Lack of communication with Mu Yang in managing designer’s cross-management;
• When cross-department communication, self-preservation, defensive mentality too strong; company interests, others’ perspectives placed second;
• When I feel “unclear positioning, lack of sense of presence, direction, achievement”, not communicating timely with Neo / Yi; didn’t tell them what I hoped to do at this company;

Mismanagement of design team

• When personnel status has hidden threats, didn’t communicate timely with the leader;
• Didn’t consistently pay attention to members’ growth, didn’t even stick well to 1:1s;

Poor expression ability, but haven’t deliberately practiced;

• Very unconfident when speaking. What to do?
• This isn’t the state I want;

Direction

• Big design?
• More subtle?

Why is it like this?

• I’m very confused, anxious about my career development. Always searching for “what I want to do”. What exactly is it?
• Due to this instability, always thinking about leaving Liulishuo.
• Not using work quality, growth as the standard, only satisfied by having “persisted for 4 years”.
• Why should I continue working at Liulishuo?

26 Jun 2017
A deep sense of anxiety, no sense of direction, don’t know what to do.
Things already on the schedule, no mood, no confidence to do;

19 Jun 2017
Motivation

15 Jun 2017
Post-1:1 with Wang Yi

• I might not be right. Learning mindset;
• Write more, express more; open communication.
• Let go of idealism. Practical work. Step by step forward.
• This isn’t my company.
• Try not to talk too much next time.

15 Jun 2017
I always feel Liulishuo lacks “vision”.
The lack of vision directly leads to product lacking direction.
Without direction, PMs are fumbling blindly, followed by design, development. Chain reaction, vicious cycle.
Vision is the soul. A soulless product, no matter how much you try to talk about concept, packaging, always feels unnatural, can’t exert force (triggered by the “AI Artificial Intelligence Teacher” brand marketing activity).
This is the company’s biggest risk. Even if it’s chronic.

The second feeling is,
Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to.
Do the work in front of you.
Take it easy.
From your position, think about relevant questions. Make suggestions, but don’t talk too much.
If you’re not in that position, you don’t need to shoulder the company’s survival pressure.

17 May 2017
I discovered a problem.
On May 4th, I wrote about a new 4-year idea at Liulishuo, aside from financial rewards, more focused on “how to improve my personal abilities”. It sounds reasonable, nothing wrong.
These past two days, emotions low, a little bit of trouble at the company easily triggered negative emotions: feeling working at Liulishuo is wasting time, colleagues’ abilities too weak, unable to realize my ideas here, things don’t go smoothly, should I start my own design studio (especially just saw designers sharing their studio scenes on social media).
The analysis on May 4th, deeply analyzed, found reasons convincing myself to stay. But a little bit of trouble easily shatters these reasons.
Too self-centered. Just consider own world, increasingly smaller.
The problem I discovered is: I only think about improving my abilities, but what these abilities are for, is actually unclear.

Why learn English?
Why expand social circle, enhance faith influence?
Why establish more systematic, mature design methods?
Why communicate and express more professionally, confidently?

I only consider skills, not how to use them.

16 May 2017

Nightingale: What is true work?
“A good nurse is a combination of three motivations.
The first is ’natural motivation’, an innate liking for taking care of people, which allows standing in a major surgery room without giving up due to trembling or fainting. I don’t think ‘religious motivation’ can erase this ’natural motivation’, turning something one naturally dislikes into a liking for religious reasons.
The second is ‘professional motivation’, being willing to do a job well and receive more education due to this motivation, even in adversity, continuously educating oneself, discussing with others. ‘Natural motivation’ for a patient’s sympathy cannot replace ‘professional motivation’; an emphasis solely on natural inclination without training within profession is irresponsible.
The third is ‘religious motivation’, where the work is not for success but for God, cooperating with God in what one does, without such mindset, the nursing profession will lead to disappointment, and over time will make nurses harder hearted towards patients.
To be an excellent nurse, one must have these three motivations.”

Design is actually just like this.

4 May 2017
Today marks 4 years.
Lately been very busy. Today for a moment (maybe triggered by Crusher’s English), suddenly thought, what is my dream? Am I busy for my dream?
I actually don’t know what the dream is.
Or, what I’m currently doing, is what I should be doing, but I don’t think this is the dream.

It’s clear that at Liulishuo, there should be decent material returns in the coming years.
2017, around a million; 2018, ten thousand; (demolition estimated around a million)
2019, around a million;
2020, around a few hundred thousand;
2021, maybe completely cash out; (8th year)

Purely from a material perspective, this is a “nearly million annual salary” job. Why not continue?

Four years is like a university. Beyond money, in the next four years at Liulishuo, what do I want to learn or gain? (38 years old)

• To express freely in English (listening, speaking, writing)
  • 9:30 - 10:00 use Liulishuo
  • Morning listen to Podcast
  • 12:45 - 13:00 read an English article;
  • Write?
• Social circle & spiritual influence
  • Write WeChat articles
  • Create a “friends circle” plan
  • Share & train on design
• More systematic and mature design methods (brand, product)
  • Read books
  • Organize
• Communication/expression becomes professional and confident
  • Training
  • Deliberate practice

25 Apr 2017
Yesterday, there was a strong sense of frustration. Although Liulishuo is developing, the sense of achievement that design brings me in this team is really very, very low. That is to say, I feel the influence of design on this company is very weak. Or rather, Liulishuo doesn’t really value design that much.

I realized my own limitations.

I can:

• Think divergently and express ideas
• Simplify complex business relationships
• Create a 75-point design
• Optimize design
• Provide feedback to designers

I can’t:

10 Apr 2017

Management
Yesterday I watched Pan Xiaoliang’s presentation on the four quadrants of employee ability/state:

• Strong ability + active. Direction focused;
• Strong ability + passive. Short-term usable. To be observed;
• Weak ability + active. Cultivate and observe;
• Weak ability + passive. Dismiss without hesitation;

Reflection
Lingome 5.0 had too many issues. Many problems seemed to be the fault of the executing designer, but the root cause was actually me.

Mindset

• I’m indifferent to the Liulishuo app. Haven’t used it for a long time, rarely participate in internal testing. Lacking initial product/design passion. Work has become just work; the baseline is on-time delivery no mistakes, an “outsourcing mindset.” Why is this?
• This mindset, will affect those around and under me.
• To add, Liulishuo as a company and product lacks a soul, like Jobs with Apple, Musk with Tesla, Misa with Rokid. The so-called soul is the ideal and love for the product that flows from the bone, unrelated to commerce.
• Furthermore, the more you do business, the less you should talk about business; what’s sold is idealism, what moves people is idealism, what’s valuable is idealism.

Management Issues

• Standards are not high enough (related to mindset); compromise when perseverance and strictness are needed. For example, in the differentiated design of the “My Courses” module;
• Staffing issues. Kandao is capable, but weak in “design passion,” tends to be passive in work. I should clearly set standards, make requests; make judgments and decisions decisively;

About Review

• There should be a roadmap, compare original plans to actual roadmaps. Which steps were delayed, by how much time, and why?
• During the project, PMs should record status timestamps.
• Make requests to engineers
  • Interaction reviews are relatively casual, no issues during review, many issues during implementation;
  • Neglect of documentation;
• List a “ways to improve” list? Start from this review.

Designer Follow-up

• Each version, must CE;
• Each version, designers, myself must participate in internal testing, give feedback;
• Each version, designers write project summaries: problems, improvements, feelings; after launch, one month later, write a project success summary based on data performance;
• Based on designer version summaries + my observations, establish designer performance files, as important references for annual performance evaluations;

Cooperation Mechanism

• Product design process
  • Feature list is not enough
    • What problem to solve? (Start a discussion)
    • Data? (Current, target)
    • Core gameplay / rules (paper prototype) (PM leads, designer participates)
  • Core gameplay’s CE (storytelling, whether it moves people)
  • After determining core gameplay/rules, proceed to interactions;
• Roadmap needs refinement. Must be refined.
• Feature list documents include: prd link, roadmap
• Set up, maintain product wiki (start with core functionality). Read product rules wiki before designing to understand existing rules. Especially in redesigns, very easy to overlook rules. Lesson: Each task’s display design, overlooked “zero minute” clock-in rule, data sync technical flaws;
• Schedule meetings in advance;

6 Apr 2017
Yesterday, received the news of the 2016 year-end bonus amount.
Originally in a sluggish work state yesterday, after hearing the news of the year-end bonus, felt a bit excited, but other feelings were complex:

• My performance last year and now is really not that good. Feeling guilty for being among excellent employees;
• I really haven’t put my all into work;
• I can’t muster passion or interest to give my all to work;
• After receiving the reward, it seems to have given me more incentive; actually, it showed me the hope of “profit”: staying here has visible profits, with the company’s business growth, returns will be more and more; The influence of rewards on me is greater than God’s influence; my daily spoken and heartfelt prayer of “may work be done for the Lord” really just stays on the surface.

Why can’t I muster passion, interest to give my all to work? Why is my heart so restless? Why do I always want to leave Liulishuo? Leave team after team to find the next place?

Because I always feel there must be a career of my own, maybe a design studio; Because I feel I must go to a design consultancy to experience, otherwise there will be regrets;

Actually, I have a strong sense of crisis, I don’t know if one day I leave Liulishuo, on the path of design, what else I could do? Thinking about “getting older, can’t do much,” I become very, very anxious about future economic conditions, especially the education expenses for my two children; this anxiety makes me view my work at Liulishuo as a money-grabbing opportunity. Just to earn money, year-end bonuses, stock repurchase, stock realization. God, has been shut out by me. My heart is bound by money.

Can I return to God, rely on Him for all my needs? Completely trust Him, that He controls all I need? Fully believe that He will supply all I need, will provide for the high pressure years of Linda, Anran’s future, including tuition after studying abroad.

Lord, I’m willing to lay all my anxieties before you. I’m willing to do well at work in Liulishuo, even though it’s mixed with expectations of material returns. Lord, I ask you to guide me, show me the purpose and meaning of working at Liulishuo.

Lord, I receive this money, ask you to make me care for brothers and sisters in need; Lord, the money is yours, may you use it;

6 Apr 2017
This morning, I thought about using SWOT to analyze my work state at Liulishuo.

Strengths

• Understand Liulishuo’s product, culture
• Some seniority, influence
• Design is relatively comprehensive

Weaknesses

• Lack of confidence (rooted in inferiority)
• Language expression ability *** (rooted in inferiority)
• Weak learning awareness and ability (data, business operations,)

Opportunities

Threats / challenges

28 Mar 2017
Today, the illustration team was merged into curriculum research. I think, to train an excellent design team.

27 Mar 2017
Have I become better?

• In team management, gradually getting just a hint of the sense
  Continuing forward, what do I want to get?
• C’s returns
  What is my direction?

27 Mar 2017
Last week, there was a decision worth discussing. In late September 2017, I’ll be leaving Liulishuo. From October to the following April, I’ll take a half-year break to rest, adjust, and learn, while also trying to start my own design studio.
This morning, when I thought of this idea, I realized starting my own studio or working at a top design company isn’t for anything else. It’s just because, in my design career, if I never experience a professional design company, I’d definitely feel regret.
If starting a studio or joining a design company (Frog / IDEO) is my goal, then what should I be preparing for now?

I’ve always worried about the stability of team members, lacking a sense of security. During morning prayer, I realized that even I lack stability. As a team leader, this state of being probably affects the team members one way or another. If I myself lack stability, where would the motivation or words come from to expect members’ stability? Speaking without conviction is just hypocritical.

23 Mar 2017
Reflections on four years of entrepreneurship

• Nothing is truly urgent that it can’t be delayed
• Sometimes, a wartime atmosphere is needed

Jan 21, 2017
I hope that when facing money or dealing with benefits, I can confidently say, “Just do whatever you think is best.”
When facing options that seem to be getting more valuable, I can stay calm;
Behind this is the belief that God is the one in control of everything.
What He provides for me is enough. Really enough.

20 Jan 2017
Today is the 2016 Q4 all hands meeting.
Soon, I’ll have been at this company for four years. Reflecting carefully, time flies. Today’s experiences made me less insistent on the idea I used to have: “I need to leave Liulishuo one day.” I’ve let it go.

1. In the online education field, Liulishuo truly has a unique position, a market position. As Adam said, why leave when the company is in a period of rapid growth?
2. For me, being the 7th early employee and participating in the entrepreneurship of a company that’s nearly 500 people now, what does that mean to me? (Actually, I could have broader visions and challenge myself more)
3. Every job has its challenging parts. For Liulishuo, teamwork (especially in teaching and research), commuting issues, and overtime are big challenges for me. But is changing jobs the answer?
   Of course, “staying” is just my thought. If my Lord has guidance for me, I’m willing to listen. (Maybe when the time comes, it’ll be hard to choose. But for now, I want to express my attitude)

2016

Oct 10, 2016
After four years, what do I want to do at Liulishuo?

• Independent product strategy design
• Brand management

Sep 29, 2016
Three months left in 2016.

Sep 20, 2016
If “money” weren’t an issue, what would I most want to do?

Aug 31, 2016
Maybe it’s my bias, but I feel there aren’t many people in this company who truly care about Liulishuo’s product.
I’m the same, always working with the attitude of “I’ll leave eventually.”

Aug 26, 2016
Eight months left until the 4th anniversary, which will pass quickly.
In eight months, I could almost get a driver’s license. Regarding direction, my thought is:

1. Use the eight months wisely to create a concrete action plan and improve “English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills”
2. Delve into one design direction: graphics? typography? UI?
   I’d like to visit IDEO or Frog for at least 2 years.
   After that, continue as a senior designer, design career manager, or start my own studio, who knows.

Aug 17, 2016
Yesterday, I originally had many negative thoughts. Later, I talked to Neo. We discussed “how to balance decision-making with subordinates” and “can a product/designer who doesn’t use their own product design well?”, and the conversation went well.
First question, from two angles: 1. the importance of the issue; 2. communication skills; second: if not, then you can’t design a good product.

Aug 15, 2016
First day commuting to the South Station office, an hour and a half one way. But it felt okay because I had “alone” time to listen to podcasts and read books. But Bingbing had it tough.
The problem now is: every Monday, I feel anxious, unsure of what to do. A bit chaotic, lacking a sense of security. The more it is this way, the greater the pressure in my heart.

Potential problems:

• The design process with e-commerce hasn’t been sorted out, Shoushou’s working state is poor;

Aug 9, 2016
Last night was a very discouraging evening.
During morning prayer, it moved me, I shouldn’t place my hopes on “people”, bosses, superiors. Turning back to God, I felt peace in my heart.
Truly, without God, it’s just emptiness, helplessness, a sense of failure, a feeling of worthlessness, and a sense of crisis. My heart holds bitterness and anger.
I pray for the Lord’s guidance.

Aug 8, 2016
“Higher up, the founder has product ideals, and so do I; middle, the founder has none, but I have; lower, neither. This is how I see “Liulishuo” this company.
If I have to set a deadline, then it’s before May 2017; if there’s a C, it can be extended further.
All the above are my thoughts.
God, what are Your thoughts?

Aug 1, 2016
Recently, there are a few things that need breakthroughs

• Organizing “brand design”
• Arranging designers
• Allocating designers/illustrators
  • Currently, there are more new designers, and their design level needs improvement;
    • How to do this?
    • Arrange for reading. Arrange for sharing.
  • The design team members need to have different levels;

Jul 28, 2016
“Refine me to be more like You”
“I will refine this third with fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

In the morning, while waiting for blood draws with Yanbing, we chatted a lot. She spoke about many positive testimonies around her. They have God in their hearts, putting God first, no matter whether dealing with family relationships, children’s growth, or interpersonal relationships.

Lord, I want to return to You. I have sinned against You.

Refine me to be more like You.

Jul 27, 2016
Recent events have shaken me.

• Feng Dahui, who worked for six years, “was resigned” due to options
• Current design decision-making power is vague, personally and as a team there is dissatisfaction;
• The issue of the illustration team’s affiliation. S often “complains” to Wang Yu, which really, really annoys me;
• Internally, not many people really use their own products. Can this succeed? I deeply doubt that;
  Yesterday, I thought about leaving again. But leaving isn’t so easy. There’s future economic pressure, after all, the cost of two kids’ schooling is huge; there’s also the “mid-life career crisis,” around the age of 35 is a very crucial time, what’s my path? Thinking this way, I’m worried again.

I want to stick it out to the 4th year, even if it’s only 9 months till the 4th year, it’s still a long time. Want to persist, partly due to expectations of gains from the C round. Additionally, I feel I still have some unfinished business, mandatory lessons that haven’t been completed.

• Brand
• Team management skills
• Design methodology
• Expression skills
• English

I envision several directions for myself:

1. Internet design and design management experience; 34
2. Experience with design companies like Frog / IDEO / Ark; 35
3. Entrepreneurship / Design studio; 37

However, it all comes back to the response I got from chatting with Ruixiao:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

I need to pray, need to seek confirmation.

May 23, 2016
Today is a special day, I decided to stay at Liulishuo.
This was a very difficult, important decision. Now that I’ve decided to stay, it means I need to readjust my mindset and keep moving forward.

Why stay?

• The purpose of option design is indeed to tie key employees to grow with the company. After chatting with Yucai about his company’s approach, I have a clearer understanding;
• My disappointment is because I didn’t know this essence before, so there’s a big feeling of discrepancy. But Wang Yi is willing to have open communication with the relevant employees, which I can accept;
• Friends around me who achieved something stayed in a career or company long enough, over five years (Yucai, Chen Cheng, Peixuan), over ten years (Xiao Yi, Pan Xiaoliang); since that’s the case, I should try it too.
• Three years ago, I set myself a timeline — four years. So in the past three years, I’ve been counting the days; today, I don’t know how much longer I’ll work at Liulishuo, but I hope to be goal-oriented and achieve these goals.
• Short-sightedly speaking, the upcoming Series C might offer a chance to cash out, which is worth persisting for;
• At Liulishuo, there’s still plenty to do; there are people I can still influence;
• Actually, I’m not clear on the direction after leaving. So why leave?

I need to sort out my thoughts

• Focus on goals, not deadlines. What goals do I have? Need to refine them.
  • Team management
  • Product goals
  • Brand design goals
  • Peripheral product goals
  • Personal professional capability
    • Expression skills, especially in communication with Wang Yi, Neo, and a wide range;
  • Self-management skills
    • Organizing computer files
    • Daily time management
  • Family leadership
    • Children’s education
    • Relationship with wife
• Financially, leave it to God. Stop expanding other ventures out of a lack of security. Focus on work at Liulishuo. Spend time outside work on family life. Keep “Salt & Light Life” products just maintained without pushing hard for promotion;
• Improve ability in team building and management. Pay attention to members’ status and growth; optimize management mechanisms. What are the current issues?
• Focus on Liulishuo products, learn about the online language learning and education industry; work closely with product and data teams. What are the specific methods?
• Improve my design, product, and management capabilities. What’s lacking?
  • Limitations in design methods;
  • Don’t understand data
• Vision, courage, and openness. In managing design teams, cross-team collaboration, and communicating with higher-ups, there will definitely be many issues to face. I hope to face them with enough breadth and courage;
• Trust Wang Yi. Distrust in him was a big reason for wanting to leave. After three years together, I feel he can be trusted. (Needs to be entrusted before the Lord)
• More direct communication with Wang Yi. He’s just that kind of person, things need to be spelled out.

May 19, 2016
If I can still stay at Liulishuo:

• Brand Design
• Peripherals
• Vitality

May 12, 2016

Not sure if I’ll continue serving Liulishuo in a consultant role. If so, before the new design leader is in place, I want to do these things:

Team

• Recruitment
• Training
• Team building

Design Oversight

• Follow product versions
• Product experience reports
• Maintain quality of design output
• Optimize design processes and methods

Design Direction Suggestions

• Overall design considerations
• Doni brand design guidance
• Peripheral product design

Time

• Monday Product Meeting (2)
• Tuesday OKR (4)
• Whole day Wednesday (8)

Expenses

May 2, 2016

Resignation Letter

Everyone,
I’m very fortunate to have joined Liulishuo, spending 3 years of entrepreneurial time with everyone.
I feel a bit exhausted. My young son has had eczema for over a year, neither adults nor kids have had good sleep at night, and my physical state during the day has been pretty poor. I want to rest physically and find time to exercise and recover.
I want to balance family and work. Plan to spend more time with my daughter, don’t want to miss the growth and companionship time with her.
Also, I need to pause and empty myself, think about the direction afterward.
Originally, I talked to Yi about resting for three months to adjust. But after thinking about it, that’s too capricious. In fact, it’s avoidance. Will I come back to Liulishuo full of energy after three months? I’m not sure.
I joined Liulishuo with the hope of achieving something. Now, I feel there are fewer and fewer things I have the ability or interest to do at Liulishuo. On the contrary, due to my negative state, I can’t bring much positive influence to the team and colleagues around. The fortunate thing is, recently, there are many excellent core colleagues joining, designers and illustrators are gradually working independently on their projects.
Therefore, after deep thought, I’ve decided to leave.
Thank you all for your trust and tolerance over the past 3 years, especially Wang Yi for his tolerance towards me.
Thank you!

April 28, 2016
Though I haven’t clarified my path afterward, I’ve decided in my heart to leave, and my mood is quite calm.
Deciding this before the church’s May Day activity is quite meaningful.
I could wait until after the May Day activity to decide.
What changes might happen during these three days of May Day? Earth-shattering?
I’m quite looking forward to it.

April 26, 2016
Stay one more year, or longer, what do I want to get from Liulishuo?
Seeing someone staying at Alibaba for 8 years, achieving financial freedom. I can’t help comparing and feeling a strong sense of failure. How did I “mix” into this state? Even if my current financial situation is much better than previous years.
So, when I’m deciding whether to leave, this kind of calculation goes through my mind: “Don’t miss out on opportunities again,” “Stay at Liulishuo for a few more years, maybe achieve financial freedom later,” “Liulishuo’s chances of success are high, considering it’s backed by IDG”…
If staying at Liulishuo is to “wait for the IPO and get option returns,” the temptation is big, the power is small;
To develop leadership skills? Although I’m not interested, it’s indeed worthwhile and beneficial for me.
To preach the Gospel? It seems I can preach more freely after leaving Liulishuo.

What do I want to do? What do I need?

• Need to rest
• Professional experience is quite single, needs diversification
• Want to experience a period of freelance (a much-desired experience)
• Physical recovery
• T-shirt launch
• Family issues
  • Yanbing handling two kids alone, she’s quite exhausted;
  • Kids need to cultivate a reading habit, especially Elim;
  • Elim needs to improve English, Mandarin, to prepare for first grade;

What can I do?

• Salt & Light Life: T-shirt
• Private business (OwlABC)
• Freelance (Frog / IDEO)
• Learn English
• Try drawing
• Picture book sharing (Big V Store)
• Share on Zai Xing
• Also consider full-time job opportunities at a company;

Waiting for the “Vision and Challenge” activity on May Day, then make a decision.

April 22, 2016
33 years old.
Stay at Liulishuo for 1 more year, what can I achieve? From the current state, I’m quite pessimistic.
After completing 1 year, then what?
What’s my goal and direction?
If that’s unclear, everything is blind.

April 7, 2016
Lord,
Here, I feel somewhat idle. Always wanting to leave, but not knowing what to do after leaving. Want to change the environment.
What is my growth here?
How long will I stay here? What’s the signal to leave?

April 6, 2016
Why has my heart been restless lately, itchy to move, but unsure of why?
Is it related to work at Liulishuo? Lost interest in Liulishuo? Lacking focus at work? Is the work pressure too much? Why do I always feel “idle”?
No interest or passion in doing no specific designs, leading the design team?
Will changing jobs solve the problem? Will taking a break solve the problem? Starting a T-shirt venture solve the problem?
Perhaps it’s not just work-related.
Lack of management, order in the family?
Pressure and worry about Elim’s growth, schooling, and relationship with Elim?
Physical fatigue from lack of exercise?

–

What else needs to be done at Liulishuo?

• Understand You English brand design
  • Differentiation between 99 and 6680
  • Robot image design
  • Video image advertisement shooting
    • Scenes:
      • On the subway (standing by the window)
  • Design and production of Understand You English usage videos;
  • Hiring for Understand You operations designer;
  • Advertising promotion for Understand You English
• Liulishuo peripheral design and operation
  • T-shirts
  • Shopping bags
  • Calendars
  • Cards
• IELTS Speaking Project
• Liulishuo user stories
  • In video form

Family issues needing organization:

• Fixed family worship and personal devotional time
• Exercise for Yanbing, me, and Elim
• Guangyan Life T-shirt sales

March 16, 2016
Yesterday, after the product review, I had a very bad impression of N. Felt like he’s not someone who actually does product work. With such a person deciding the product direction for Liulishuo, it feels like staying at Liulishuo would be a waste of time.
Past ten in the evening, a big sulk led me to slam a chair in front of Yanbing.
Today, after another discussion with N about product direction and team arrangements, my impression of him changed significantly. This change makes me feel like I can continue staying at Liulishuo.
Why does my thinking change so easily due to environment, personal feelings, and emotions?
This morning, during quiet time, I thought, even though I’ve mostly decided to stay another year, I don’t have a clear goal or purpose for 2016 at Liulishuo. Now, let me clarify:

• Focus on whether each designer has clear goals, workload saturation, and work happiness;
• Focus on each designer’s professional growth and training;
• Focus on appreciation and motivation based on each designer’s responsible projects;
• Optimize work processes;
• Cultivate design managers under me;
• Stimulate design ideas and control the quality of each project’s output (gradually delegating to subordinate design managers);
• Update March 17, 2016: The above are not enough. The key is how do I regain interest in this product?

February 15, 2016
The Crux

1. Consistency of personal direction;
   1. Design is quite shallow, lacks system/theory;
   2. Illustration ability;
   3. Weak activity in circles;
2. Differences between expectations and reality in positioning;
3. Designer / Manager;
4. Design management
   1. Workflows for illustrators
   2. W’s efficiency issues
   3. Design review mechanisms (any design, big or small, needs confirmation with research. Autonomy, freedom, efficiency are too low);
   4. Managing designer emotions

2015

December 18, 2015
Found these issues with Liulishuo’s development:

• Founders’ original intent in language learning; if none, must find someone truly passionate about online language education;
• Team formation. As business complexity grows, cross-department cooperation increases (product, design, research, admin, promotion), what makes a real team?
• Quality improvement in products and design; especially products;

Plan:160504

October 22, 2015
Today got home past midnight. Exhausted, but not sleepy. One o’clock, two o’clock, now almost three.

What am I busy with here? Am I happy? Is this what I want?
Feeling a bit nauseous.
Dislike this work method. The work atmosphere.
This can’t be solved by changing jobs. The question is: do I want to continue this life in design? What’s my direction? What do I want to do?

September 24, 2015
Last night Bennett mentioned why so many talented people can’t produce good things?
In the past two plus years, where was the biggest problem?
I think it’s in strategy and direction. A big failure.
We’ve been fighting, but in the wrong direction.

August 27, 2015
Product Vision

• What is it?
• The company’s core foundation. Better than discussions on “what kind of people, company culture”;

Find people who agree with the vision

• Clear understanding of people’s positioning;
• Don’t hire randomly, including interns;

Team collaboration

• Cross-team integration and cooperation;

Cohesion of core employees

• Bind real rewards with company interests;
• Regular syncs with core employees on company status;

Wang Yi

• Either return to being a product manager or find someone to manage the product;
• Contribute strategy, direction, product methods;
• Don’t contribute needs unless doing the product oneself;

Sense of accomplishment, morale

• Short-term: smoothness of work (professionalism of the people);
• Long-term: product data performance;

“Verification” approach to product development

• Which are the verified products?
• Don’t expand on products awaiting verification, as communication costs rise, unsuitable for quick iteration. For example: multiple languages at Liuli Academy.

Focus, cut products/needs:

• Cut Liulishuo’s community; rebirth the community via “cultivation”;
• Liuli Academy, keep only one language.

August 11, 2015
My work:

• Find suitable designers: operations/brand designers, senior visual/interaction designers;
• Streamline workflows/specifications;
• Ensure quality of interaction/visual/illustration outputs, align coordination and progress.

August 5, 2015
Now, a feeling of having nothing to do, facing many confusions, what value can I bring to Liulishuo? Neither Tydus nor Super seems to arouse my interest? Passion and a sense of achievement in work are very low. Moreover, after the Play project, I feel internally frustrated, besides fearing failure, I also doubt my product design methods. Whenever I want to suggest improvements to Liulishuo products, self-doubt accompanies them; in short, confidence in product design is gone.

For me, it’s a challenging time. Passion has faded, returned to calm; how to regain passion in calm? Edges in design and personal dealings are gradually worn down, and self is shattered. But if shattered and cannot rebuild, I will be defeated.

David Livingstone is someone worth emulating. His African exploration wasn’t the goal. His contributions to astronomy, geography, biology, and medicine weren’t the goal either. His goal in venturing into Africa was simply to preach the gospel to African natives who hadn’t heard it. Yesterday, during dinner with Tracy, Chen, and Fancy, talking about the gospel brought a sense of satisfaction, peace, and joy. Can I view the workplace, my work at Liulishuo, as my place to serve? Can my purpose here be transformed? Simply to preach the gospel of God? And design, just my means.

Why is the sense of accomplishment low? Actually, it’s not due to lack of users, but being too far from them. Next, I want to do some “user engagement” during my spare time: daily user interviews (designers involved), reading user feedback, trying to use Liulishuo’s products.

June 20, 2015
Liulishuo’s Design Management

• Quality control of design
• Leadership and team building for designers
• Initial design of Liulishuo’s brand

February 4, 2015

Summary of Liulishuo in 2014

Passed through the engineer area in the evening, hearing intense keyboard clicking, everyone is busy. But, busy with what?
One-year results, team efficiency, the team’s work style, are we satisfied with them?
The input and output are not proportional.
What detours did we take?
Don’t use tactical diligence to make up for strategic inferiority.

Verification Model
Verification model and expansion scale, which stage is Liulishuo in?
Which products or functions have been verified? The following two:

• Cultivation, challenge form
• Liulibar
  The cultivation challenge form internally feels old, but still attracts new users today and has a certain usage frequency. Of course, this form has issues, but we haven’t delved into the underlying problems; similarly, Liulibar’s current performance also validates the viability of this form, unfortunately, we haven’t explored deeply;
  Awaiting verification:
• Online CMS course format;
• Groups
• Organizations tool
  If agreeing with this stage thinking: verifying product modes, then, to verify learning and community modes, is there a need to consider languages beyond English? Is there a need to consider internationalization?
  Multilingual and internationalization will only slow down the process of verifying the model.

Tuition Paid

• Why does 2.0 prefer spending 3 weeks fixing bugs instead of counting it into the development cycle? (This isn’t the first time!)
• Why was 2.0 overturned as soon as it launched? More than two months of development, and everyone involved is wasting life!
• Two years in, and we haven’t learned from wasting life. This shocks me about the team;

Split App

• After splitting, what’s the plan for learning and community?
• Are you clear on how to handle the weak community in the learning part, and the weak learning in the community part?
• What’s the expected goal for the first version of the learning app?
• After splitting, will we continue to “pile on features”?

Make a Good Product

• Personal talent, knowledge, life experience; (Designers’ skills and experience are limited for different products; can’t fully represent users)
• As a user, use the product;
• User research;
• Data;

Understanding Users

• If product designers don’t use their own products or understand how users use them, how can they design well?
• Did anyone understand users when making 2.0?
• When splitting the app, was there any user survey?
• For every product and designer, every version and feature design must include user research. In LLS products, user needs are relatively broad, and each designer’s life experience is limited (Have you paid for a learning product? Do you frequently use a dating app? Do you need to use English in your career? If not, how do you design products?), dreaming up products without understanding users is asking for trouble.

Product Planning

• Is there a big map clarifying various functions’ positions, completeness, and priorities within the entire product?
• Why are adhoc demands casually mentioned by Wang Yi included in the product development plan? (What’s the product manager doing?)

Development Rhythm

• Less
  • Fewer features per version
  • Smaller single functions
• More
  • User research
  • Data feedback
• Slow
• Fast

Team Expansion

• Expanding the team without finding the right development rhythm won’t significantly increase output, it will only make the organization slower.

About the CEO

• Set the direction, show us where the right direction is!
• Avoid letting everyone tirelessly charge in the wrong direction. The faster you run, the further you get from the goal!
• Restraint;
• Boost morale;
• Pay less attention to details;
• Suggest fewer “obvious” optimizations;

2014

November 12, 2014
My son Anran was born.
Isaiah 40:30
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I thought about leaving LLS after two years, to change the environment. Why change?
Actually, changing jobs doesn’t solve any problem. LLS has issues like “overtime, unstable projects,” but do other companies not have problems? Obviously not. The ideal company doesn’t exist.

For some reason, after having a second child, my mindset changed: calmer, more patient. I’m less anxious about things now. So, I tentatively thought, maybe I can stay at LLS for the full four years.

I don’t know why I’ve been imagining life back in Changsha recently. Do I really need to go back to Changsha?

Why change jobs?
An ideal job doesn’t exist. There are always problems, one way or another.
Currently, LLS’s issues for me are:

• Long work hours;
• Fear of failure;
  The biggest challenge is:
• Managing a team
• Improving my own capabilities;
  Here, I have an opportunity to experience achieving something. During this process, I can improve myself and build character.
  I’m unclear about the future. Recently, I’ve been struggling to find direction. Today, the feeling is: prepare myself (character), and wait for the Lord.

October 13, 2014
Learning is hard work, challenging human laziness, it’s very difficult.

• 20% intense learning + 80% light learning;
• Sell the “results” plan to the 20% and build brand; make them feel effective and practical. How is it effective?
  • Content
  • Method (a consistent method)
• Sell the “sense of ownership” plan to the 80% for revenue (like buying books, buying New Oriental courses); make them happy. How to make them happy?
  • Packaging;
  • Fun, happiness. How to make it fun?
    • The fun path shouldn’t be too long, can it be fun in 10 seconds? (example with an app)
    • Several short-term fun experiences, combined into long-term fun.
• The solutions for these two groups of people must be separate. For example: Lance’s materials are targeted at the 20% group.

October 13, 2014
In three years: Learn English, go to LLS

• Online
  • Tools
  • Community
• Offline
  • Schools
  • Agencies

October 10, 2014
In recent days, thinking about education and learning has left me disappointed with human nature: blind, greedy, lazy, and restless. Hence, I lack confidence in designing “online education products.”
This process has also left me very restless.
Gradually calming down, I’ve realized:

• Online education requires patience; it’s a long struggle;
• Don’t expect to find a clear direction in the short term, but never stop exploring directions;
• Looking back from the future, maybe all efforts now are trial and error. One needs to be mentally prepared for this;
  I’m a conservative, pessimistic, and rational person. Until now, my “pessimism” has had a negative impact on those around me.
  I need to be more positive. I should continually put my thoughts before God, praying for wisdom and strength from above.

October 6, 2014
What’s the meaning of online education?
Is it the trend of the future?
LLS is on the darkest road to the future (maybe not even the darkest time yet)
Feeling my way.
Leaving aside the utilitarian aspect, this process is definitely interesting and will have many rewards.
Additionally, I can arrange and balance faith, family, health, life, and work.

September 23, 2014
Faced with candidate Situ, my instinct is to honestly tell Wang Yi my thoughts, even if it disadvantages me. I entrust to you, Lord Jesus.
Finally, a timeline was mentioned, next May. I also mentioned my direction, trying out Frogdesign or IDEO.
Saying these things made me feel lighter; I don’t know why.
Sticking with this for two years, I told myself, and my wife, this hasn’t been easy.
There are 7 months left, 7 months to prepare.

• Do a good job on tasks at hand;
• Listen to open courses/TED daily;
• Read English design articles and the English Bible daily;
• Work on small and beautiful design projects;

August 11, 2014
Recently facing huge struggles:

• Pressure of starting in design management;
• Pressure and fatigue from work difficulty and intensity;
• Monotony from day-to-day repetitive work;
• Perhaps due to the above three factors, body aches, very poor sleep quality. Especially poor sleep which affects morning mood;
  I’m considering changing to a job with “no weekend overtime.”
  Currently, LLS is at a stage that’s both risky and full of development and opportunity. For me, it’s a great chance to train character, leadership, and design skills. The only issue now is whether I can respond positively to the above problems?

update: August 6, 2014
Over the past month, intermittently handling the issue of stock options. “Stalemate and unsolvable” state.
What are my reasons to continue, persist? (32 months)

• Benefits
• Growth
  If I decide to stay, I need to adjust my mindset and prepare for a “long battle” for both people and matters.

update: April 25, 2014
LLS one-year anniversary

• Overtime didn’t lead to corresponding achievements or a sense of accomplishment, rather, a sense of failure;
• A year has passed, and we still don’t know where we went wrong! We’ve just been busy without purpose.
• Over the past year, who have we competed with? In my view, the only competitor is if we’ve thought clearly enough, rather than if we’ve acted quickly enough!
  • Analysis: Where do our competitors come from?
• Where is the opportunity?
  • Core experience of the main app (light, fragmented, deep learning);
  • The demand of small and medium education institutions on mobile internet, can we make a platform out of it? (Offline can’t be replaced, we should form alliances)
  • Social interaction;

2014 LLS

如何服务细分用户？
分别为他们设计怎样的课程？（游戏、形式简单）
如何賺钱？

—

用户研究、测试（招聘一位用研）

2014.1.18

我感觉这是在流利说遇到的第一个艰难时期，因为我对所做事情的价值、正确性有了怀疑。我们所做的，真的是用户所要的吗？或者说，在线英语学习，是未来的趋势吗？我们是否走在通往这个趋势的正确道路上？
现在，正式进入一段探索期，陷入了泥潭，没有方向。是否能走出来？如果找不到可拓展、有生命力的产品方向，那么流利说的衰亡是迟早的事。

在我看来，出路在于：

1. 有多了解用户需求。找到大用户，找到痛点；
2. 有用的课成体系设计；
3. 开发能力。（节奏）

在这之前，iPad版本、儿童版本、微信App的开发，都是次要的。

几个产品关键词：

1. 被动式学习（游戏）；
2. 游戏化；
3. 兴趣社交化（熟人?）
4. 与老外建立关系（交朋友）；

希望自己能够有足够的耐心能度过这个坎。

2014.1.1晚

2013

update: 2013年9月21日
从实践上来说，未来的一段时间，让我最感兴趣的两件事情：

1. 结合理论，在实践中摸索一条高效产品开发方法、团队写作方法、一套自己的设计方法论；
2. 建立流利说品牌；

2013年5月6日 上午7:22
无论做什么，都要从心里做，像是给主做的，不是给人做的， 因你们知道从主那里必得着基业为赏赐；你们所事奉的乃是主基督。那行不义的必受不义的报应；主 并不偏待人。(歌罗西书 3:23-25)

1. 在感兴趣的领域，发挥设计能力，提高设计能力，成为有影响力的人；
2. 视野、工作方式国际化；
3. 从上帝处获取灵感，It’s easy, It’s fun；
4. 在工作中经历神、见证神、感谢神；
5. 金钱不是工作的目的，主已经供应我每日所需；
6. 不求人，只求神；
7. 有智慧，“灵巧像蛇，驯良像鸽子”
8. 英语成为第二语言；

在流利说，我应该有以下准备：

1. 设计方面，不是所有时候他人应该听从自己；
2. 不是所有时候都会得到肯定（相信在神里的永恒价值）；
3. 团队一定会经历低谷、纷争，希望自己不为这些所动；
4. 团队一定会经历自我价值的困惑；

2013年3月11日

加入流利说 - 谈风险

• 搬迁麻烦（5月中）
• 适应新城市，暂时的交流空白；
• 海外背景团队的适应（英文交流）；
• 团队交流的适应（思考：自我误解的非正常设计沟通方式？）
• 自己的能力和未来的业务方向是否匹配？
• 自我能力的提升（更快的思考、更准确生动的表达、更有效率的工作、更平衡的生活）

新的机会，我的期望是什么？

• 在感兴趣的领域，发挥设计能力；同时，提高设计能力；
• 做出有影响力的产品，让自己具有影响力；
• 视野、工作方式国际化；
• 为了第三条，需要锻炼英语；

1. n%期权（来自A轮前已设的Option Pool）；
2. 在A轮及其以后，与所有人同等稀释；
3. Vesting期限为4年，每年25%；
4. A轮之后，薪资恢复到xxK；

MacBook Pro 13寸高配；
等上海公司定址后再搬家。
稳定的环境，不错的薪水，但如果不能满怀兴趣，全情投入，这是非常大的风险。因为，时间与锐意进取的心，已经不再了。同样，在创业团队（或许还不是公司），风险是前路未知（却也充满各种可能），偏低的现金收入…
时间，永远是一个人最宝贵的。