Pei Qian became energetic immediately upon hearing it.
Such a universal failure experience? I have to listen well then!
Qiu Hong deliberately paused and said, “This failure factor is… intervention by the boss or other external forces!”
Pei Qian: “?”
Qiu Hong did not notice ‘Ma Yang’s’ blank expression. He had completely fallen into the heart-wrenching confession state like before. “This one is all tears.
“People in the game industry have a simple dream before entering it: that is just to make something fun for the players. Even if it was just a game with paywalls for these clients to recharge. Our work will not be in vain as long as they are happy.
“However, this society is not that simple because a game is not something that one person can make. You have to go to the office, face all sorts of office politics, choose your sides, and maintain good relationships with others. Otherwise, no matter how good the project prospects are, it is no use if you cannot obtain resources.
“When doing administrative planning, you have to listen to function planning, right? When doing function planning, you have to listen to the chief planner, right? When you finally become the chief planner, you have to listen to the producers, right? Even when you become the producer, you would still have to listen to investors, right?
“When you really become an investor, you have to listen to the market voice, listen to money… because you are not willing to make ducks and drakes of your own money!
“See, you might have your own thinking, but you cannot guarantee that anyone that has command over you has the same thinking as
you!
“This is an external intervention. Think about it, a good idea is changed by the producer, then by your boss, and finally by the investors. When it is about to be publicized, the channel dealer asks you to change it again…
“Changing here and there, and you yourself will not be able to recognize it.”
Pei Qian listened silently with a blank expression on his face. It sounded like a very nice scene.
How I wish that someone can help me with messing up the project and make the project prospects bleak…
However, Boss Pei had no one here to mess it up. He had the final say in everything.
Boss Pei even tried to butt in often with his subordinates. However, the problem was that he butted in so often, but the project did not fail! The more he butted in, the more successful it became…
So what the hell are you talking about?! Could it be that my method of butting in is wrong?
Pei Qian coughed lightly. “Erm, I have a question. Boss Qiu, why do you say ‘the boss butted in and called the project to fail’?”
Qiu Hong had a look of surprise. “Boss Ma, do I need to explain this? You can imagine it anyhow!
“For example, you obviously know which games are popular now, but the Boss wants to do it the other way around. You know the players’ taste, but the boss wants to go against the players. There was no design proposal on the market, but the boss just wanted you to come up with one…”
Once again, Pei Qian fell silent.
Wasn’t that all I had been doing? Then, my loss-making ideas seemed to be fine? Why are the results completely different then?
No, that was completely useless. I’ve tried it and it failed. I have to stop Qiu Hong as soon as possible and not elaborate any further on this.
Pei Qian felt that he could no longer waste precious time on this topic so he said hurriedly, “Well, I understand it completely. This is really easy to lead to failure! However, this experience is not very useful to me. Can we change it to another?”
“Not very useful? Boss Ma, you mean you don’t really meet such a problem?” Qiu Hong was taken aback.
“Yes, definitely. Boss Ma, the one above you is Boss Pei. Boss Pei himself is a top game designer; there is no possibility that you will be directed by Boss Pei to failure.
“No problem, Boss Ma. I did think of that so it is just an appetizer. I’ve also prepared some other content behind it.”
Pei Qian was delighted. Great, I almost thought that this lesson was going to be wasted again! Qiu Hong continued. “Then, the next very critical failure factor is that you will not be able to find the talent you want. Boss Ma, you should be able to use this, eh?”
Pei Qian agreed deeply. “Yes, I face this problem!”
Qiu Hong smiled slightly and continued. “A boss definitely cannot do everything. He would be dog-tired if he were to do that, and he wouldn’t be able to do a good job. At this point, you should find various people-in-charge for various businesses.
“There is a difference between this point and project management. Project management is how to utilize talents while what we are referring to now is how to find talents! Relatively speaking, it is more difficult to find talents.
“Many projects fail because the leader does not have good vision. He could be deceived by some boastful scammers who entrusted him with important tasks but with no practical ability at all.”
Pei Qian nodded his head vigorously. “So, where are these scammers?”
Qiu Hong did not know how to answer for a while. “Uh… they are hidden in the vast crowd.”
Pei Qian asked. “Then, in theory, there should be quite a lot of such scammers, right?”.
Qiu Hong thought about it. “Who knows? No one has done data analytics in this area. But I think it should be okay. Most people encounter a scammer or two when they start their businesses, right?”
Pei Qian was really speechless. Does that mean I’ve bad luck then?
Then, it still would not work. This one seems to be useless. After all, I really did not possess any talent for identifying scammers. Zhang Wang was the best example.
Pei Qian coughed slightly. “Em, Boss Qiu, that does not seem to be much help as well…”
Qiu Hong was taken aback. “Em… nevermind, Boss Ma, I’ll change one more. I don’t have many successful experiences but plenty of failed experiences!”
Pei Qian: “…”
What was going on with this inexplicable feeling of sympathy? Qiu Hong thought for a while. “Then, I’ll talk about the concept of ‘deviation from common sense’ next!”
Pei Qian nodded, feeling that this theory seemed good and should be of help to him!
Qiu Hong explained. “In a game company, we will often hear phrases like this: “The boss is an SB(1). He knows nothing and can do nothing’ or ‘The newly recruited planner is too stupid. He has been fired by me.’
“Such dialogue happens in many game companies. Their tones are very similar as well. Then, why do people in the game circle always think that they do not understand anything?
“An experienced chief planner and a producer who can attract investors should all be experienced. Both sides maintain that the other party ‘did not understand anything’, so who would not understand?
“This is the ‘deviation from common sense’. That means to say that everyone’s common sense is different. We are both thinking about the same thing, but the common sense I think I possess and the common sense you think you possess are totally different. Therefore, both of us will think that the other party does not understand at all.
“For example, the thing with ‘Cottage Game’. They are proven successes to both the capital venturist and the boss so why don’t they do it? To most businesses, what future is there in doing something that others had already done too much of?
“Of course, this is a very simple example. In actual working conditions, such ‘deviation from common sense’ will only be serious, and it would have an impact on all aspects of the company’s operations in the process of making games and ultimately completely deviate from the original intention of the project.” Pei Qian blinked blankly.
Wasn’t that exactly what I was going through?!
A real confidante!
Pei Qian grasped Qiu Hong’s hand. “Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly how I feel! I’m so conflicted about
this! So, how shall we solve this problem of ‘deviation from common sense’?”
Qiu Hong smiled. “Well, this is easy to say but difficult to do. It is to establish good communication with each other.
“The root cause of ‘deviation from common sense’ is not understanding each other. As long as they can communicate well, let the other party understand their true thoughts, and form a joint force in the same direction; then the problem arising from ‘deviation from common sense’ could be resolved to a certain extent.”
Pei Qian: “…”
The enthusiasm was extinguished again.
Why was it yet another solution that I could not use at all?!
Communicate well and let the other party understand what you really think? I want to do that too, but the system did not allow it!
I could not let anyone know that I’m making losses on purpose! What was worse was that my employees seemed to have formed some kind of synergy, but they were all in the opposite direction…
Pei Qian was instantly discouraged. The three experiences for failure that he had learned today could be said to be rather rewarding.
However… none of them could be used!
Qiu Hong looked at his watch. His time today was almost up; he sighed in his heart.
Har, Boss Ma had such high expectations. If it was not because I was prepared with my massive amount of failed experience, then it was really possible that this course could not go on today. What was with this sad feeling…?
Luckily, the class was successfully completed today!
Boss Ma looked down in deep thought. He should be rather inspired, right?
Pei Qian raised his head. “Boss Qiu, I have one last question. What will happen ifhypothetically, I mean, hypothetically-if all the three problems that you mentioned were not problems anymore?” Qiu Hong was taken aback but smiled. “Then, congratulations to Boss Ma, you will be able to make money lying down! “Do whatever you want to do without being directed by anyone blindly; choose all the talents and everyone could be independent; there is no deviation from common sense between all the employees, all had the same goals and worked hard in the same place… “If you cannot succeed, who can?”
Pei Qian: “…”
Those words were too heart wrenching.
He was here to learn about failure, but he was in greater despair now that he had learned it!
[1] This is short for ‘ShaBi’, internet slang in China for ‘stupid’.
Chapter 533 - This was All because I Accurately Figured Boss Pei’s Character Out!
May 30th, Monday…
Liang Qingfan brought the blueprint for the Golden Maze to Thriller Hostel.
Over the week, he had been working as hard as he could. However, instead of feeling tortured, he felt pure excitement.
Architects could spend very little or a lot of time on blueprints. Some real estate companies even stipulate in their contracts that architects must produce drawings overnight upon receiving the budget and design requirements, to achieve higher turnover.
That was a more extreme example, and it was neither reasonable nor humane. Still, it was enough to show how miserable an architect’s life was.
To Liang Qingfan, the Golden Maze was not the project with the tightest timeline and the most torturous schedule that he had ever received. Instead, it was the one that excited him the most.
There were three main reasons for this: he was being paid more than enough, his client was not micro-managing or breathing down his neck to make changes, and there was a lot of room for creativity in the interesting task.
Any architect would be filled with inspiration and passion if he was free to design the mall any way he wanted, and he had the authority to ask for more funds if he wanted.
When he arrived at Thriller Hostel’s office, Chen Kangtuo and Shi Zherui were already waiting there.
“Sorry for making you wait so long. Let me explain the plan for the Golden Maze. I didn’t have time to perfect some details so I will need you to work on it later, Teacher Shi.”
Shi Zherui nodded quickly. “Yes, of course.”
Liang Qingfan started explaining his own design using the blueprint. “After conducting field surveys, I realized that this old factory is relatively empty, and it has strong plasticity. However, if we want to turn it into a maze as Boss Pei requested, the surface area seems lacking.
“After all, the shops have to be big enough to store their products. What’s more, to ensure that the shops are hidden, the surface area of the maze has to be big enough as well.
“So, at once, I thought about making use of the fact that the factory is so tall. We will stagger the levels of the Golden Maze and utilize the height of the shopping mall. The shops would also be staggered, forming a three-dimensional maze.
“At the same time, this staggered-level approach allows us to segment areas for rest and viewing. Visitors could rest in the resting area and see two or three shops from afar. That would drive them to look for shops they had not found earlier after resting. After all, they would already have seen how a few of the shops look like. It might trigger their desire to see more.
“Of course, seeing them and finding them are two completely different things.
“There would be exits in all resting and viewing areas. Under normal circumstances, those exits would be hidden. They would look no different from other paths in the maze. However, in emergency situations, signs would light up so that visitors can move quickly and exit the mall.
“As for the construction period… We will have to purchase steel in large quantities. However, we won’t be forking out the money so we can ignore the cost.
“As for the style, I have a simple rendering here. Boss Pei requested for a resplendent effect, but I think it won’t be easy to cover the entire mall in pure gold. It would tire visitors’ eyes, and the mall would look incredibly tacky. People might take one look at it and think about nouveau riche who wear huge, golden chains. It’ll fall far short of the style we’re going for.
“I’m thinking that the entire maze would look fundamentally the same. To ensure the unity of the style, we can think about using luxurious and high-end materials, as well as specific types of lighting. That would create a sense of luxury but avoid tackiness.
“On top of that, the details of various areas where the shops are located can be done differently. For example, figurines and merchandise could be sold at shops that appeal to younger people. Red which symbolizes life, vitality, and boundlessness… and orange which symbolizes buoyancy and wealth… can be the theme colors.
“High-quality products and souvenirs could be sold at shops that appeal to more mature people. Blue, which symbolizes rationality and peace, could be the theme color.
“Couples’ headwear and themed costumes could be sold in cozier shops, and the embellishments could be in burgundy.
“Shops selling interesting gadgets can be in purple, which gives a sense of mystery. At the same time, we need to note that purple and gold are relatively rich colors that might cause spatial imbalance. That means we might have to use colors like white to balance things out here and there.
“All of these shops must have a passage for employees, which would be closed to all other visitors. That would make it easier for goods to be transported. Moreover, it would save employees the trouble of having to walk through the entire maze each time they go to work.
“We can also have random vendors in special areas around the maze, who would sell interesting little gadgets.
“That way, customers can use their general surroundings to look for a certain shop or region. They could also be assured that they’re on the right path. “After all, Boss Pei only asked us to create a maze to give visitors an interesting shopping experience and not to dissuade them from buying anything. We would have to give visitors appropriate hints along the way to encourage exploration and mystery but prevent them from losing motivation just because the shops are too hard to find.
“
That’s the general idea. Do either of you has any opinions?”
After briefly explaining the design, Liang Qingfan looked up at the two other men.
At the same time, Chen Kangtuo and Shi Zherui answered, “No! It’s great!”
Liang Qingfan immediately looked embarrassed. “If either of you have other thoughts, please tell me. It’s normal for clients to request for the design to be edited. Don’t feel embarrassed.”
Chen Kangtuo shook his head. “No, I just think the design is perfect! I like everything, including the fact that visitors can see other shops from the resting area and that different shopping regions would have different color themes.
“We’ll fulfill Boss Pei’s requirements and ensure the mall’s functionality and practicality as much as possible. Exploration, entertainment, and shopping would all be perfectly balanced in that mall.
“Boss Pei has been telling us to leave the professional things to the professionals and not to instruct insiders as outsiders. Just as Boss Pei completely trusts Big Boss Ruan, we have complete trust in your design!”
Liang Qingfan could not help but grin. It looked like Tengda’s employees had inherited Boss Pei’s spirit. Working with clients like that saved him a lot of trouble.
He turned to look at Shi Zherui. “Teacher Shi, you will be in charge of the construction. If you find anything inappropriate, please raise it as soon as possible so that I can make the necessary modifications.”
Shi Zherui shook his head. “I have nothing! One look at the blueprint, and I can tell that you are both knowledgeable and professional, Teacher Liang. You have thought about this from every angle, and your imagination is admirable! If it were left to me, I would not have achieved something like this.
“Of course, I don’t want to admit that you can do the work better than I can, but that’s the fact! It’s a good thing that Boss Pei invited you here from Shanghai. Otherwise, the maze would turn out badly, and I would take the blame, wouldn’t I?”
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