Methodology is the basic principle guiding how we do things. It can help us quickly get to the core of the problem and determine the solution. A good methodology can make us get twice the result with half the effort. The following is a summary of some of the methodologies I have learned in Ali in the past few years.
Methodology of doing things
5W2H
When we are doing something, we often need to talk to our boss or partners about why we are doing it and how we are going to do it, in order to gain recognition and support from the boss and partners. 5W2H refers to WHY, WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, HOW MUCH. The 5W2H method can help us build a clear framework of expression, making the key points of expression prominent and easy to understand. The following is a detailed introduction to 5W2H.
WHY: When I used to write papers in school, the first thing I needed to explain was the motivation of the whole paper. Similarly, when conducting a job report or a promotion defense, you must also explain to everyone the reasons and benefits of doing something. If you do not answer this question well, then what you do may be questioned as worthless; WHAT: When we think about the reason for doing something, the next thing we need to determine is what to do and what the goal is; WHO: To accomplish a thing, it usually requires other people to complete it in addition to ourselves, the more complicated it is The more things you need to coordinate. At this time, it is necessary to clearly define the rights and responsibilities, confirm the number one position of the task and the division of labor among all the people; WHEN: To do things, we usually have long-term goals and short-term goals. What kind of things to be done at what point in time needs to be determined at the beginning, so that the follow-up can be promoted based on this goal; WHERE: determine the place to do a thing, if it involves cooperative projects across multiple regions, you need to consider the number of personnel Office location, business trips should be considered when necessary; HOW: the specific methods and steps to do one thing; HOW MUCH: the cost of doing one thing, including manpower, resources and other costs. When doing one thing, we have to consider the input-output ratio. For things with high cost and low benefit, we need to further focus on whether it is necessary to continue to advance; many simple things can be done well even if we do not follow the above process. However, for complex problems, if there is no systematic method as a reference, then things will be difficult to accomplish. In daily work, even for small things, we can follow this process to develop our ability to do things, so that when we encounter complex problems, we can easily unravel and simplify them.
STAR
STAR is a rule of thumb to help tell a story. It can make the description of the problem clearer and easier to understand. It is often used during the interview process. The STAR rule is an acronym for situation, task, action, and result.
Situation: the context and circumstances in which something happens;
Task: A task or responsibility undertaken;
Action: the steps taken to achieve the purpose;
Result: the final result; learning the STAR law can help us express it better and let others accept it better. You have to be able to do it, but you also have to be able to say it!
Pareto principle
The Pareto principle, also known as the 28 principle, is used to quantify the relationship between input and output. The Italian scholar Pareto found that the distribution of social wealth among the population is unbalanced, 20% of the people occupy 80% of the social wealth, and this imbalance is common in society, so the 28th principle becomes this An abbreviation for an unbalanced relationship. Understanding the Pareto principle can help us grasp the core of the problem and achieve 80% of the effect by optimizing the 20% of the core.
long tail theory
The long-tail theory is contrary to the Pareto principle. It is believed that 80% of the long-tail can accumulate into a large share, and there is a lot of room for improvement in optimizing the long-tail. For the application of the Pareto principle and the long-tail theory, it needs to be analyzed in combination with the actual scene. There is no right or wrong between the two theories, just do the right thing at the right time.
payment method
MVP
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the most simplified and feasible product. Its core idea is to deliver a minimum set of available functions to users each time, iterate continuously according to user feedback after delivery, and finally transform it into a complete product. In this way, product verification can be carried out quickly at the lowest cost, and product direction adjustments can be avoided after investing a lot of resources.
way of thinking
six thinking hats
"Six Thinking Hats" (Six Thinking Hats) is a thinking training model developed by Dr. Edward de Bono (Edward de Bono), or a model of comprehensive thinking, which provides tools for "parallel thinking" , to avoid wasting time arguing with each other. Its core idea is to think about the same problem from different angles, only one aspect at a time. It uses six hats of different colors as a metaphor to divide thinking into six different aspects, so that everyone can play six different roles when thinking about problems.
first principles
The first principle first came from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. He said: "There is the most basic proposition in every system, which cannot be violated and deleted." Musk admires the first principle very much, he Once said: We use "first principles" thinking instead of "comparative thinking" to think about problems. We always tend to compare in our lives--others have done or are doing this thing, so we will do it too. The result of this is that only small iterative developments can be produced. The "first principles" way of thinking is to look at the world from the perspective of physics, that is to say, to peel off the appearance of things layer by layer, see the essence inside, and then go up from the essence layer by layer.
SCQA
McKinsey Dafa - a structured expression method in the pyramid model, namely Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. When using SCQA, it is not necessary to strictly follow the order of "situation-conflict-question-answer", but the order can be changed to adapt to different expression styles and emotions. Generally, it can be divided into the following four modes:
Standard Form: (SCA) Situation-Conflict-Answer;
Straight to the point: (ASC) answer-situation-conflict;
Conflict-Situation-Answer Concentration Concentration (CSA);
Prominent Confidence Style: (QSCA) Question-Situation-Conflict-Answer.
target management
DISTRICT
O in OKR means the target Objective, and KR means the key result Key Result. OKR focuses from bottom to top, drives employees to innovate, and is shared in the organization. It is open and transparent, allowing all employees to have a clear understanding of the goals of the organization. OKR needs to continuously update feedback and make adjustments based on actual business, so that organizations and employees can keep abreast of target progress and risks.
KPI
KPI is the key performance indicator (Key Performance Indicator), which is a goal-based quantitative management indicator to measure the performance of the process by setting, sampling, calculating, and analyzing the key parameters of the input and output of the organization's internal processes. A tool for decomposing strategic goals into actionable work goals is the basis of enterprise performance management. Compared with OKR, KPI is decomposed from top to bottom, focusing more on results, and everything needs to be quantified in the form of indicators. KPI and OKR can be used in combination, KPI is responsible for assessment, OKR is responsible for process management, KPI is equivalent to a dashboard, and OKR is equivalent to navigation software.
SMART
The goal must be specific (Specific);
Goals must be measurable;
The goal must be attainable (Attainable);
The goal must be relevant to the overall goal (Relevant);
Goals must have a clear deadline (Time-bound).
Strategic Analysis
PEST
PEST is an analysis tool mainly used for industry research. By conducting research from the aspects of politics (Politics), economy (Economy), society (Society), and technology (Technology), it can help us to more systematically analyze the macro environment Analyze the situation facing the business.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis lists the internal strengths (Strength), weaknesses (Weakness), external opportunities (Opportunity), and threats (Threats) related to the research object through investigation, and then matches various factors with each other and conducts systematic analysis , so as to draw scientific conclusions. When using SWOT for analysis, you can follow four principles. Principle 1: Invest resources to strengthen superior capabilities and strive for opportunities (SO: maximum and maximum strategy); Principle 2: invest resources to strengthen superior capabilities and reduce threats (ST: maximum and minimum strategies); Principle 3: Invest resources to improve weak capabilities, strive for Opportunity (WO: Minimum and Maximum Strategies); Principle Four: Dedicate Resources to Improve Vulnerable Capabilities and Reduce Threats (WT: Minimum and Minimum Strategies)
user growth
Data Warehouse Hierarchy
Data is the most basic element for data analysis, and data warehouses are used to store data from different sources. Typically, data flows into a data warehouse on a regular basis from transactional systems, relational databases, and other sources. When building a data warehouse, the data can generally be divided into four layers, namely the original data layer (ODS), the public detail layer (DWD), the public summary layer (DWS), and the application data layer (ADS).
- The ODS layer saves all operational data, does not perform any processing on the original data, and preserves the originality of the data;
- The data in the DWD layer is the detailed data after cleaning and converting the data in the ODS layer to meet the demand for standardized data. Such as NULL value processing, data dictionary analysis, date format conversion, field merging, dirty data processing, etc.;
- The DWS layer data abstracts and classifies the data according to the subject, and provides long-term precipitation of the detailed data of the business system. This layer is some summarized wide tables, which summarize and count some fact fields that need to be queried according to various dimensions or combinations of multiple dimensions based on the DWD layer data. It can meet some specific queries and data mining applications, face the business level, and summarize according to the needs;
- The ADS application layer is based on the business needs, the results obtained from the statistics of DWD and DWS data, which can directly provide query display, or be imported into a relational database for use. The data at this layer will be oriented to specific business departments, and different business departments use different data to support data mining.
Pirate Indicators—AARRR
concept introduction
AARRR is a user growth model proposed by McClure in 2007, focusing on customer acquisition (Acquisition), because its explosive growth method is usually called the pirate model, and its essence consists of Acquisition (acquisition), Activation (activation), Retention ( Retention), Revenue (income) and Referral (propagation) consists of 5 stages.
- Acquisition: On the premise of locating target users, let users know about product information through various online and offline channels, and finally convert potential users into actual users. The measurement indicators are the number of clicks, installation volume, open rate etc. Some common customer acquisition channels can be seen in the table;
- Activation: The goal of this stage is to increase user activity, guide users to complete certain "specified actions", and make them long-term loyal users. The "specified action" depends on the type of product. Some products only need the user to log in within a specified time to be considered active, while some products must complete specified operations to be considered active. The measurement indicators include the amount of device activation. , subscriptions, daily activity rate, etc.;
- Retention (retention): To improve the user retention rate, the problem to be solved at this stage is how to make users continue to use the product;
- Revenue (realization): Guide users to pay for products, or charge fees from other interested parties through advertising display, business sharing, etc., to obtain benefits. Measuring indicators are payment rate, payment frequency, lifetime value, etc.;
- Referral (communication): It is necessary to let users recommend the product to others, that is, word-of-mouth promotion such as sharing and interaction in online and offline social networking, and viral person-to-person transmission to achieve explosive user growth. Commonly used measurement indicators are forwarding rate, next day playback, etc.
How to use
From a strategic point of view, the core issues of concern in several processes are different, and different marketing strategies can be targeted.
RARRA model
concept introduction
As the dividends of the Internet gradually decrease, the AARRR model is no longer applicable to the current operating strategy. There are several reasons for this. First of all, with the gradual enrichment of the application market, the competition of similar APPs is very fierce, and the retention of new users is not optimistic; in addition, the traffic costs of various channels (social, e-commerce) are high, and the cost of attracting new users is also increasing. The RARRA model is Thomas Petit and Gabor Papp’s optimization of the pirate index-AARRR model. Compared with AARRR’s focus on customer acquisition, the RARRA model highlights the importance of user retention.
How to use
The essence of customer acquisition when the retention rate is low is to rent traffic. Only by improving user retention can you have your own user base. You can follow the following steps:
- Analyze the current retention rate and major user loss nodes in the product, and then carry out targeted product optimization after determination;
- Conduct product function guidance to help users use products more quickly and conveniently, and increase user activity;
- Viral transmission is achieved through user recommendations, such as Pinduoduo's "cut a knife";
- Find a suitable business model for monetization, such as promoting user transactions through product recommendations, so as to increase product revenue;
- Analyze customer acquisition channels to find high-quality channels that bring loyal users. For channels with low paid conversion rates, you can appropriately reduce marketing investment.
Customer Value Measurement Model—RFM
concept introduction
The RFM model is an important tool and means to measure customer value based on the contribution of customer activity and transaction amount. Its meaning is as follows:
- R——Recency: The interval between the time of the user's latest consumption behavior and the current time can be defined as the silent period of user purchases. The smaller the interval, the higher the user's activity;
- F——Consumption frequency (Frequency): the number of times a customer consumes within a certain period of time. A high consumption frequency indicates high user loyalty;
- M——Monetary: Monetary is the transaction amount within a period of time, reflecting customer value.
How to use
There are two ways to use RMF. One way is to analyze and evaluate each indicator separately and implement corresponding strategies. The other way is to combine multiple indicators to obtain a comprehensive indicator. The first method classifies customers from multiple dimensions. User portraits are too specific and not universal enough in actual operations. The second method uses the idea of multivariate comprehensive evaluation and cluster analysis to classify customers more scientifically. Generally using this method, customers can be divided into six categories: important value customers, important development customers, important retention customers, important retention customers, general value customers, general development customers, general retention customers, and general retention customers. After classifying users, targeted marketing can be carried out. For example, online contact or offline visits can be used to prevent important retained customers from losing users; for general retained customers, coupons, special return policies, etc. can be used. Keep users active.
Summarize
This article introduces relevant methodologies from the aspects of working methods, ways of thinking, goal management, data analysis, and user growth. In addition to the content mentioned in the article, there are many other excellent methodologies that can guide us to grow continuously in all aspects of work and life. , I hope to bring some help to readers!
Author｜Wang Ji
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