The moment Li Yan gently pushed open the glass door of the R&D department, the hustle and bustle of the outside world seemed to be cut off by an invisible barrier.
The atmosphere here is focused and tranquil, even with a hint of dullness like an academic laboratory.
The air is filled with the faint smell of coffee and the unique aroma of pine when soldering electronic components.
Ten engineers are immersed in their work.
Some are staring at the dense code on the screen with their brows furrowed;
Some are using oscilloscope probes to carefully measure the signals on the development board;
The person in charge, Zhao Gong, was a hardware engineer hired from Shenzhen. He noticed Li Yan first and stood up quickly: "Mr. Li." Others also raised their heads, with a hint of awe for the boss in their eyes, and a hint of confusion among technicians who were suddenly disturbed.
Li Yan waved his hand, indicating that everyone should not be cautious.
He walked to the largest work table in the middle, on which were spread several "disembowelled" mobile phones.
One is Dopod's Windowobile mobile phone, the other is the engineering version of HTC G1, and there are several test boards filled with soldered components.
"How are you, everyone? Compared with our "silly, big, black and thick" functional machines, are these things more interesting?" Li Yan picked up the G1 motherboard with a smile and asked in a relaxed tone.
Xiao Liu, a master's student who just graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, pushed up his glasses and couldn't help complaining: "Mr. Li, it's interesting, but the Android system is too difficult. The compilation environment can't be set up, various dependency libraries are missing, and the error messages can't be understood..."
"There are also drivers," Lao Zhou, another software engineer from ZTE, said, "We want to light up this screen. It took almost two weeks just to find information and write the underlying driver, and now the brightness cannot be adjusted."
Li Yan nodded, expressing understanding.
He did not directly answer specific technical questions, but picked up a whiteboard pen and started drawing on the whiteboard next to him.
He first drew a simple layered structure.
"Comrades, we are now 'gnawing at the hardest bone'."
Li Yan focused on the bottom layer: "Transplantation of low-level drivers and system kernels is the hardest and most tiring work, like building a road in the dark. But once the road is built, the road ahead will be smooth sailing." Cutting off all the necessary services and processes is like pruning the branches of a big tree, leaving only the core trunk so that it can run very fast on our limited hardware."
He then painted the top layer: "Finally, this is where your designers will show their talents - the UI and application layer. We want to create an interface that is most comfortable for Chinese people to use and look at."
Looking at the thoughtful and stressed expressions of the team members, Li Yan knew that he needed to give them some more specific and exciting goals.
He changed the subject and began to throw out concepts one after another that seemed almost "science fiction" at this time.
"Do you think the future mobile phone screen should be a resistive screen that is poked with fingernails, or a capacitive screen that is gently slid with fingers?"
Everyone was stunned.
At this time, resistive screens are absolutely mainstream, capacitive screens only exist on iPhones, and the cost is staggeringly high.
"I tell you, it must be a capacitive screen."
Li Yan said firmly, "The experience is revolutionary. Zhao, your hardware team can start studying the supply chain and driving principle of the capacitive screen now. Don't wait until others have done it before we follow up."
"Also, future mobile phone interactions should not only have cold icons and menus."
He turned to the UI designer: "Think about how to implement 'slide to unlock' 』? How to make the list have an elastic rebound effect when it reaches the end? How to make the click operation have a slight vibration feedback? These subtle animations and interactions are the soul of future smart phones. "
"The most important thing," Li Yan emphasized, "what we are doing now is not to make a "feature phone with touch screen". Its core should be "application", that is, App."
He wrote down the word “App” heavily on the whiteboard, which is unfamiliar to most people today.
“We want to be an open application store so that developers from all over the world can develop software for us—games, tools, social networking, news... In the future, when users choose a mobile phone, they will not only look at the hardware, but also what can be played and used on the phone.”
This series of advanced concepts makes team members both excited and unbelievable.
Li Yan promptly brought back reality and gave a clear implementation path:
"I know, these goals sound very ambitious. So we cannot reach the sky in one step. Our strategy is divided into two steps..."
“I have already made an appointment with MTK’s executives. Once their smartphone platform matures, we will be one of the first companies in the country to get a plan. Based on their plan, we can quickly launch our first smartphone, focusing on cost-effectiveness and deeply customized UI, and establish a firm foothold in the market first.”
This statement made the team breathe a sigh of relief, with a clear timetable and reliance.
"However, we can't just be the porters of the MT solution. Your current tasks are "spare tires" and "forward-looking"." Li Yan pointed to the architecture diagram on the whiteboard.
"You are chewing on the bottom layer of Android now to accumulate capabilities for us to get rid of the public version solution in the future and achieve deeper customization and optimization. You are studying capacitive screens and interactive design so that when the supply chain matures, we can make products with the best experience as soon as possible. "
Finally, Li Yan glanced at each member.
“I know that everyone is working hard and confused. What we are doing now is something that few companies in China are doing, and even many big manufacturers haven’t figured it out yet. You are exploring no man’s land every day.”
He paused, his voice full of power: "But this is the value of our Xingchen Electronics! We are not just a seller of mobile phones, we want to become a participant and even a leader in the smart era."
He pointed out. Pointing in the direction of the factory outside the window: "Every penny earned from the functional machine business will continue to be invested in you. Your salary and bonus will only be higher than those of your colleagues in the sales department! Because I know that they determine the company's present, and you determine the company's future!"
"Okay, let's continue working. If we encounter technical problems that cannot be solved, record them, and we can hire outside experts with high salaries to do short-term training. Don't do things behind closed doors."
After saying this, Li Yan put down the marker, patted Gong Zhao on the shoulder again, turned and left the R&D department.
The glass door closed gently behind him, and there was a brief silence in the R&D department.
Subsequently, a low and excited discussion broke out.
Li Yan's words were like a carefully drawn map. Although the road ahead was still full of thorns, it at least allowed them to see the direction clearly and understand the meaning and value of every step.
The anxiety of groping in the fog has dissipated a lot, replaced by a sense of mission and urgency to participate in making history.
Li Yan did not look back, but a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He knew that the seeds of thought had been sown, and it was only time and sweat for them to blossom and bear fruit.
This small team is his most precious fire to lead to the future intelligent empire.
This kind of stimulating method was a common thing when I was a product manager in my previous life and needed to explain the design of new products.
In today's era of overwhelming waste, for a leader like Li Yan who can clearly outline the future path and scenarios, he is the most valuable asset of a company or a group!
Because no one in the market today knows what to do, and no one knows where the future is.
Everyone is at the stage of crossing the river by feeling the stones, but Li Yan is equivalent to having the most accurate map, and can almost perfectly lead the team to success!