Original Li Pan (Qianxi) Alibaba developer trapped in the workplace｜Sharing of books that have helped me get out of trouble in the past three years
background
Before 2021, I was a person who didn't read much. I usually improved myself by observing the way people around me do things, chatting with others privately, and writing corresponding technical articles. During the time when I was nominated for promotion to 8 in 2021, I was under a lot of pressure. , Mengsheng wants to improve himself as soon as possible through some means.
When I was confused, I was fortunate enough to communicate my dilemma with my previous HR-OD Organizational Development-Wu Yan (Xiaoyan). She recommended the first book to me to read, Peter Drucker's "The Effective Manager"; Later, at work, I was fortunate enough to work out with a classmate from the former department, P (he had worked at Amazon for many years and was very experienced and very open). I found that he also had the habit of reading regularly. We worked out with him and recommended books to each other (recommended to me). (more books), almost two years later, my personal growth reached a new level; later at work, I met a BU technology leader from Taobao, who also had the habit of reading, and I was lucky enough to get his book list. and classmate Wang from the BU Organization Department gave me a direction for my subsequent studies.
The above is roughly my experience of changing my studies. My experience is a bit like a running account, but there is a logic behind it, which is to quickly find the "network" that can help you. The network can be people you know, following anchors, books, etc. . Networking can also help you develop your own career and cognitive blind spots.
There are two types of people who read: 1. People who read for fun, 2. People who seek answers from books in order to solve certain types of problems. I belong to the latter. This article will explain what types of problems it solves.
I hope that through sharing my reading notes, I can get to know more people who like reading, become friends, study together, exchange experiences together, and complement each other's "blind spots". If my shared reading notes are helpful to you, you are also very welcome to leave a message at the end of the article!
overview
[Note: Strong Study Book List] This year is my 9th year at Alibaba. My nickname has always been Qiang Xi [Self-improvement]. Why is it called "Strong Study Book List"? Because a good habit can last a person's life. Benefiting, if you can turn good habits into your own habits, this is what I need to hone myself at this stage.
I divided the books I have read into 7 categories, but critical thinking is so important that it is extracted from personal cultivation and becomes a separate category.
1. Professional technology: It solves how to become an architect;
2. Thinking, expressing, solving, and advancing: solving the problem of how to report upwards and advance projects or cooperation horizontally;
3. Management: For me personally, the solution is how to stimulate the passion and ability of team or project team members to achieve results;
4. Psychology: The solution is how to understand other people’s thoughts, such as: whether it is a temporary thought, or the native saying “Don’t be fooled by others” or how to fool others;
5. Product: Understand the core responsibilities of the product and see if you are suitable for switching products;
6. Business: The solution is how to understand the operations of these companies due to the extremely fierce competition in the e-commerce industry and the electric vehicle industry in recent years;
7. Personal cultivation: How to improve yourself as an inconspicuous “screw” in a large enterprise;
8. Critical thinking: The solution is how to "debunk" the logic behind the people or things who tell stories and make big pie all day long. In addition, a more important issue to solve is self-reflection and broadening of one's own understanding. ;
Although I have read some of the above books and understand the principles, I may not be able to do well in real life or work [work hard]. To quote Huabin: "Learning is a kind of behavioral reflection. It is not about knowing some knowledge. It must be experienced personally, pondering on your own important matters, and implementing actions. This is the unity of knowledge and action; otherwise, reading is also a kind of plaything." "
1. Professional technology
background:
At that time, I wanted to transfer to Alibaba Cloud and become an enterprise technology solutions consultant. Although I have worked in transactions, merchants, commodities and other positions for several years, in Alibaba, most middleware is packaged. If you are consulting on enterprise technical solutions, how can you make an enterprise use your technical solution and make it worthwhile? Trust it!
question:
Business Application Development How to become an architect? [Tip: It may be better to read in the order introduced below]
1. "Refactoring - Improving the Design of Existing Code 2nd Edition" by Martin Fowler
From the principles of refactoring, the bad smell of code, and building a test system, we will tell you what kind of system we should have, and the method of refactoring: Refining (functions, variables) - "Encapsulation -" Moving - "Reorganizing data -" Simplifying conditions -" Refactor api-》Process the relationship between classes.
2. "Alibaba Cloud Cloud Native Architecture Practice" Author: Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Division of Alibaba Group
I am a trader myself, and most of what I talk about in the book have been experienced personally. Through the cloud native architecture, I have a deeper understanding of the things in my daily work, and I know at what stage a system should be constructed and solved accordingly. Obstacles to technical vision caused by long-term "service" in an organization.
3. "Microservice Architecture Design Patterns" Author: Chris Richardson
Analyze the existing problems from the single application, and then use an example to describe the methods that need to be considered during the upgrade of the microservice architecture. It's somewhat principled.
4. "Mid-stage Architecture and Implementation: Based on DDD and Microservices" Author: Ou Chuangxin Deng Di
Introducing the middle platform: business middle platform, data middle platform, technology middle platform, R&D operation, cloud platform, etc., combined with DDD knowledge, microservice knowledge + the practice of middle platform architecture (front-end), to better understand Alibaba’s middle platform strategy, and "1+6+n" is currently in progress.
5. "Financial-level IT Architecture: Decryption of the Cloud Native Architecture of Digital Banks" Author: MYBank Technology Editorial Board
The practice of cloud native architecture, entraining industry characteristics, and the stability challenges of the financial industry, from cloud infrastructure architecture, storage architecture, cloud unit architecture, hybrid cloud elastic architecture, an overview of cloud native architecture containers, service grids, serverless, etc., It explains the cloud-native path of MYbank from the aspects of risk prevention, business architecture, and security architecture.
6. "SRE: Decryption of Google Operations and Maintenance" "Phoenix Project, a Legend of IT Operations and Maintenance"
I have read parts of these two books, mostly to learn how others do it.
2. Thinking, expressing, solving and advancing problems
1. Promotion category
background:
At that time, I was working in a BU with two algorithm teams. The two algorithm teams had a "department wall" problem. The business problem that needed to be solved at that time was: from the perspective of the merchant, when should the merchant place CPC advertising to maximize the effect and benefits? The problem was that we needed to obtain delivery data from the app-side algorithm team, but the other team never gave it to us. I thought at the time: These people had poor values [the scary part of the organization] and had "communication" problems.
question:
How to solve the difficult-to-advance issues [department wall]? How to prepare your report?
1. "Crucial Conversations - How to Communicate Efficiently" - Author: (U.S.) Corey Patterson, Joseph Graney, etc. [Recommended by airborne P9 students]
It mainly talks about key conversations, such as boss reports, contract negotiations, etc. Steps: Focus on your true purpose -> Pay attention to observation (silence + verbal violence) -> Ensure a safe atmosphere -> Control thoughts -> State opinions -> Understand motivations -> Decision-making and execution records. Personally, I think: In our daily work, we often encounter the problem of safety atmosphere, and we have seen it too many times. This book can help you solve this problem.
2. "Mastering Conversation-Key Problem-Solving Skills" by Chris Voss
The author of this book must focus on introducing the former American FBI international crisis negotiation expert to use similarities, build confidence and empathy, create a safe atmosphere [dance of safety and danger], and change negotiations in an instant. This level of conversation may occur at the CEO level. When a CEO gives a speech to investors, he actually looks like a gangster!
3. "Negotiation Power" by Roger Fisher, William Urie, etc.
This book is suitable for daily work contract negotiations, cooperation negotiations, etc. It is relatively gentle. The main points are to separate people from things, focus on common interests rather than positions, negotiation jiu-jitsu and negotiation tricks, etc., which can be read carefully.
4. Author of "Replicable Communication Power": Fan Deng
The author Fan Deng, everyone should know that the main features of this book are easy to understand. Many of the principles in this book are concepts transformed from the above books, such as: controlling emotions, safe atmosphere, etc. There are few original things, and it is more like the inner meaning after reading. Summary after transformation.
reward:
1. Pay attention to the safety atmosphere, pay attention to the goals of others, and control your own subjective assumptions;
2. XX P9 communication meeting - repeat the other party's purpose, gain trust, and guide more possible solutions - practice;
3. Angry development - I am fixing a bug but I am communicating why I made such a mistake - timing of conversation - practice;
4. Refund migration test and run away - the test classmate has not given a good case for a long time. She must have a problem and need your help - pay attention to observation - reflect on things many years ago;
5. Angry PD - She thinks the communication is clear, but in fact it cannot be implemented. It is a matter of position - safety atmosphere - practice;
2. Thinking, expressing, and solving problems
background:
I once had a boss who liked to focus on certain details, "Is the issue you are considering sufficient and necessary?" I didn't agree with that before. I thought at the time: The main core of the team at that time was me [leading the project team or small team] to help What he said is that your "preaching" is directly related to my output. [He is a good person and works very hard]
question:
Why does he consider the problem so comprehensively? And I didn’t think so comprehensively, but the results I got were also very good?
1. Authors of "Framework Thinking": [Austrian] Victor Maier, [French] Kenneth Cukier, [French] Francis Devisicu
This book mainly explains the benefits of frame thinking and the steps to build frame thinking: law of cause and effect, counterfactual thinking, and constraining imagination. And how to continuously reconstruct your own framework thinking.
2. "Structured Expression-How to Report Work, Speech and Writing" Author: Qiuye, Xiaobangde, Xu Nan
This book is more like a tool book for expression. It answers one by one according to different problems encountered. It has many tools and methods, a bit like a summary tool book.
3. "The Pyramid Principle" Author: [American] Barbara Minto
This book should be a very famous book, and many apps are highly rated books. The Pyramid Principle helped me understand my former boss’s way of thinking, the MECE principle.
A classic, highly recommended reading.
reward:
1. This kind of thinking, expression, and problem-solving ideas are indeed good things and worthy of everyone’s in-depth study and thinking.
2. My previous direct supplier work order system, penalty breeding system construction, CPV issues, business opportunities and bidding structure were all built without this set of knowledge. Why is this? --》Abstract/Problem essence, determination, gambling mentality, creative merit-based selection
3. This kind of knowledge is only used for reporting/expressing and handling single things, and cannot be used for planning. Planning is more suitable for OKR [There are too many uncertain factors in planning, otherwise it will take time to analyze well, but there will be no actual results]
4. This kind of knowledge is mainly used for individuals, but there is a flaw: individual abilities are limited and it is easy to fall into blind spots in thinking.
5. I have developed a way of using xmind’s mind map to do things, which has benefited me a lot.
3. Management
background:
I joined Alibaba as a P6+ in October 2014, and was promoted to P7 in 2018. The senior who guided me in Alibaba for the first three years would only tell me what kind of needs I should do, and why I should do it or what it would do for me. Don't even think about paving the way for growth. At that time, I came to Hangzhou with my one-month-old child and my wife [who had no job at the time]. I didn't dare to work and had no direction. After I become someone else's senior brother, I must help my junior brother grow up quickly and unleash his potential. When I grow up, if I haven’t reached level 8 yet, I will let him do the things I did before [I don’t want to stand in other people’s way]
question:
How to inspire potential in others? How to manage a team? How to understand upper management?
1. Peter Drucker's book series--a consultant's perspective
Drucker is the originator of management, a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal, and a master of management. There are still many management books citing his famous sayings. The first book recommended by him is "The Effective Manager" in 1966 and " Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practice" 1973, "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" 1985, "Management Challenges in the 21st Century" 1999, etc.
2. Author of "Principles": Ray Dalio-Bridgewater Associates,
The author is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest fund organization. This book taught me the term "creative merit selection" and credibility-weighted hiring, which has made me a lot of money in recent years [in terms of team management]. I highly recommend reading it.
3. Author of "Empowerment-How to Inspire Leadership from All Employees": [US] David Marquette
The author is the former captain of the USS Santa Fe - a nuclear submarine. He focuses on the "leader and leader" model and the shortcomings of "leader and follower" throughout the article. What you learn more from this book is how to inspire others to be more self-driven. When applying it in actual work, you must be careful not to let your boss think that you rely entirely on the efforts of your classmates [because he does not understand this model] .
4. Author of "OKR Working Method": [US] Christina Wotek
In recent years, well-known domestic companies have been studying OKR, especially books about "Byte OKR". In fact, OKR has always been available abroad. This book introduces OKR working methods and some basic operations. Here, what I want to tell you is: Every company’s culture or organization is different. Don’t blindly learn or imitate the practices of other companies. You must understand the basic principles of OKR, combine it with your own company culture, and then formulate corresponding rules and regulations. .
5. "First, Break All Conventions" Author: [Marcus Buckingham Curt Coffman]
The author of this book, in the role of a consultant, researched and interviewed a large number of reports on the behavior of outstanding managers in the world, and summarized and elaborated on his views. He mainly talked about 4 parts:
Insights of great managers, four basic responsibilities of great managers, four secrets of great managers, practical work guides for great managers
6. "Leadership Echelon - Comprehensively Building a Leadership-Driven Company" Author: [Ram Charan]]
This book is suitable for senior students to read. It is an advanced level book and mainly talks about how to build a leadership echelon.
I personally summarize two rules [Tip to see if people around you are misaligned]: and so on.
1) Lower grade students: P6 should try to do some of the work done by P7, P7-》P8
2) Senior students: P10 should no longer do the work of P9, P9-》P8, P8-》P7
4. Psychology
Background:
I once had the honor to participate in a meeting between two BU-level bosses [P10 level] about a certain business discussion. I found that the bosses also made System 1 [Fast Thinking] judgments, which caused the following students to work hard for more than two months, and finally failed. any results.
question:
How to identify whether other people’s ideas are right or wrong? How do others think?
1. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" Author: [American] Daniel Kahneman (Author)
The author is a Nobel Prize winner. This book is the cornerstone of psychology and a must-read. Many psychological theories quote many of the ideas in this book. The first two chapters of this book are difficult to read and are more scientific. If you don’t understand, keep reading. After finishing it, it will be better to read it again. This book has in-depth research on the human brain, such as: seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages
2. Author of "Influence": [US] Robert Cialdini
This book mainly introduces 7 psychological weapons: reciprocity, preference, social recognition, authority, scarcity, commitment and alliance. Psychology is now used in various fields, and it is highly recommended to go in depth and understand the principles behind it.
5. Products
background:
I am a business application developer. I am interested in business and products. I want to change my career to be a product manager. I can read some books to understand whether some product industries are suitable for my development.
question:
What is the daily work of the product like? What is the product industry like?
1. "Everyone is a Product Manager 2.0" Author: Su Jie
The author is a former product manager at Alibaba. He stayed at Alibaba for 10 years and then started his own business. He mainly introduces the daily work content and methods of Alibaba’s product managers. He proposes that the most impressive theory is the "Y" theory. Students can study hard
2. "Yu Jun Product Methodology" Author: Yu Jun et al.
The author is a former Baidu product manager. Didi product managers belong to high-level managers. The core of this book introduces what a product manager is, utility, marginal utility, cost and the law of supply and demand, as well as the selection and growth of product managers. This book emphasizes critical thinking. importance, and recommends many related books. Through this book, you can probably judge whether you are suitable for the product manager industry and how to do high-level product management.
3. "Go viral - let your products, thoughts, and behaviors invade like a virus" by Jonah Berger
It is a bit far-fetched to classify this book as a product book. This book is more like a marketing book. The book starts with an introduction to why it is popular and introduces the six principles of virality: social currency, inducement, emotion, publicity, practical value, and story. Entrepreneurial business students can study it carefully
6. Business
background:
I was originally in Taote BU, and the exclusive BU chased Pinduoduo, but in the end I failed to pose a threat or form a blocking battle.
question:
Why did Pinduoduo rise, and why did the Lingtong, Cuntao, and Taote businesses disband?
1. "Crossing the Chasm" by Jeffrey Moore
This book is more suitable for entrepreneurs, those who develop new markets, and those who have good technical expertise to learn from. For example, with the increasing development of the Internet industry, it is impossible for Alibaba to be the only one. Companies such as JD.com and Pinduoduo will inevitably appear. , each company must have a unique positioning and its own target market segments
2. "Positioning" by Al Reese and Jack Trout
This book is purely a business book, focusing on marketing. Every company has its own unique positioning. This book revolves around the essence of "positioning" and unfolds a series of commonly used methods [mindset, leader/follower positioning, brand extension] Traps, etc.] and some common mistakes that may be made are taught to entrepreneurs. If you want to figure out why today's "Taote" was demolished, you can find the answer in this book
3. "Business War" by Al Reese and Jack Trout
"Business war is like a battlefield", just like this book, this book is based on the book "On War", reviews the current history of business, analyzes defensive warfare, offensive warfare, flanking warfare, guerrilla warfare and other tactics in business, and defines tactics and strategies Relationship. After reading this book, you can understand that today's e-commerce industry is also a stage of history, which is worth learning from.
reward:
1. The "gap" is a hurdle that many entrepreneurial companies cannot overcome. They must pay attention to the "early audience group" as it determines the threshold of life and death.
2. Business "positioning" is not about positioning what your business wants to be, but positioning in the minds of your competitors and consumers, such as "free shipping" and serving hundreds of millions of consumers. These are all mistakes. positioning
3. If we imitate what a company does and do what we do, we cannot surpass it at all, because the other company has already occupied a leading position in the minds of consumers and can be broken. Other tactics need to be adopted to attack, and the situation of each company is different. For example: learning "Byte OKR" should set up different mechanisms according to the different situations of each organization.
7. Personal cultivation
background:
A person will definitely belong to an organization and will encounter difficulties, helplessness, promotion and other problems in the organization.
question:
How to be independent of this organization and continue to improve your capabilities
1. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey
I understand this book as a guideline: be proactive, start with the end in mind, put first things first, win-win thinking, integrate synergy, know your enemy and yourself, and constantly update. You can read it for the first book and then read other books to experience it.
2. "The Power of Habit" [US] Author: Charles Duhigg
Personally, I think this book is on the same level as the "Fogg Behavior Model" book. It mainly teaches you how to form good habits. The core concept of this book is "the loop of habit", which is also the origin of my pen name for this article. If you develop some good habits, you can read this book, such as myself: I will exercise four times a week, read for an hour every morning [occasionally I will catch up on something when I have something to do], and every time I get up in the morning and change clothes, I will Fold your pajamas neatly, etc.
I personally summarize two paths to success:
1) "Small success"-"Persistence"-"Slow increase"
2) Pay attention to opportunities during major turnarounds and adopt a growth mindset
3. "Time Management-How to Use Every 24 Hours of Your Time Efficiently" Author: [US] Jim Randall
This book is a comic guide on how to use your own time. It reads quickly and is similar to a reference book.
4. "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Author: Joseph Campbell
The author is a novelist. It is said that the "Star Wars" movie was inspired by this book. The author is engaged in research on world mythology. Through the study of mythology, he reflects the growth path of heroes. Can improve "willpower". Due to the differences in cultural backgrounds around the world, the heroic stories introduced in this book are difficult to understand. I have not finished reading it.
5. "The Evolved Consciousness of Leaders - Mental Growth towards a Complex World" Author: [US] Jennifer Garvey Berg
This book was recommended to me by a former senior HR. This book mainly explains people's mental models, not a management book. One point mentioned in the book is that it is very easy for people to fall into the dilemma of "black and white" and fail to see more possibilities. In addition, there are three conditions for improving your mental model: learn to ask questions, learn to accept, and see the whole system and think systematically.
6. "Lifelong Growth - Redefining the Successful Mindset" Author: [American] Carol Dweck
This book divides thinking into two categories: fixed thinking and growth thinking.
1) Everyone has a fixed mindset and a growth mindset coexisting;
2) Everyone will encounter people who say that I am not good at this. In fact, this is setting limits for myself. You must learn to accept this fact, and through "deliberate practice", you may be better than others;
3) "Failure" will be more rewarding and more worthy of attention than "success";
reward:
1. There are only two ways to develop habits:
1) Pay attention to "small successes" and continue to increase them. For example, if you want to exercise, the first step is to jump in place twice at a fixed time point. After a period of time, increase it to four times. Just stick to it.
2) When major events happen, new habits are formed, such as: having a girlfriend, getting married, being fired, etc.
2. The importance of "reverse quotient". When encountering the same thing, you should look at the problem with a growth perspective, so that you can continuously improve yourself.
8. Critical thinking
Background:
I used to have a colleague who thought about issues very comprehensively and always pointed out the loopholes in my thinking and asked whether the reports of some "bragging" colleagues were true or false.
question:
Explore how the thinking logic behind them was formed?
1. "Learn to Ask" by Neil Brown and Stuart Keeley
This book can be used as an introductory book for critical thinkers. Analysis of topics, conclusions, evidence, and keywords will help improve your listening skills. Asking the right questions can explore the essence of the problem. In daily work, you can tell who has real abilities or fake abilities by just asking a few questions. This book can do that.
2. "Thinking and Standpoint" by Richard Paul and Linda Elder
The English name of this book is: "Critical Thinking". It is a very best-selling book abroad. This book defines what critical thinking is, thinking ethics, elements and methods to improve critical thinking. I personally think it is a classic and powerful work on critical thinking. Recommended reading. After reading this, you should be able to understand: Capitalist society will not transform socialist society. How to improve your thinking ability
3. "Get Out of the Quagmire of Thinking" by Roberta Ness
The content of this book focuses on innovation in the scientific industry. The overall content is divided into three parts, analyzing and understanding overcoming obstacles to innovation, raising and answering scientific questions, and innovation incubators. The chapters introduced in the book are not classified too much, and the introduction is flat. After reading it, it might be better to give a summary, more like the application of critical thinking in the science industry
4. "Tear Down the Walls in Your Mind" Author: Classical
A domestic writer, this book uses easy-to-understand stories to analyze problems existing in real life, and then teaches you how to tear down the wall of thinking from a practical level. The biggest feature of this book is that it is relatively easy to read and does not require too much energy.
reward:
1. The first step in critical thinking: you must admit that your own cognition is biased and deficient.
2. Meditation and mind mapping can help improve your ability to do things and understand others better.
3. Not all people around us are critical thinkers, so we must know how to get along with them. This is why many critical thinkers find it easy to work in small companies.
Nine, QA
