Chapter 055: Discussing Requirements

Because Lin Luyao was already at the very end of the group, and had been delayed by Cheng Li, it took her even longer to return to her workstation. By the time she placed the other two laptops where they belonged, Tang Xiao and Chen Xujia had finished tidying up in the restroom and returned as well. Seeing Lin Luyao at her desk, they couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

Tang Xiao asked, “Hey, Luyao, why are you still here?”

Lin Luyao was taken aback by this out-of-the-blue question, unsure how to respond. This was her workstation, after all—if she didn’t come back here, where else would she go?

“Tan Fang went to present requirements and didn’t take you along?” Chen Xujia sat down, took out a hand cream from the drawer and began applying it, then looked up and asked.

“Oh, I think Lily went with him.”

“Next time, take the initiative. After all, it’s your proposal. If he forgets, just follow along yourself, okay?”

Lin Luyao nodded with a smile, agreeing. Only now did she realize there was such an unwritten rule.

But thinking it over, she understood. Although Tan Fang was somewhat versed in programming and acted as the logic expert of the team, often sent to discuss requirements with colleagues from the data analysis department, he wasn’t the originator of the proposal. In the process of relaying, there was inevitably some discrepancy in the description compared to the original idea. If the person who proposed the plan accompanied him, their explanation would be more accurate.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side, Cheng Li finally got her wish and followed Tan Fang upstairs to the territory of the data analysis department.

When Cheng Yu looked up, he saw Tan Fang approaching with someone in tow, and his face fell as he hurriedly said, “Bro, why are you here again? We’ve got tons of work to do. Have your team figure things out in a meeting first, then call me… Otherwise, I’ll never finish all this.”

“Heh, heh, heh—this time it’s not a meeting.”

A smile brightened Cheng Yu’s face, thinking they’d brought him some afternoon tea as a reward. But before his smile could fully form, Tan Fang continued, “We’re here to present a requirement. You guys will have to handle this one.”

Cheng Yu groaned, complaining that his workload was about to pile up again, but his hands moved quickly. He grabbed a little notebook from the cabinet to his left, stood up, and led the two of them to the nearby discussion room.

“Hey, the person beside you… new hire? Haven’t seen her before.”

“Yeah, she just started this week. New employee,” Tan Fang replied without denying it.

The three entered the discussion room. Cheng Yu chose a seat, opened his notebook, and said,

“Well, go ahead, what are we doing this time?”

Tan Fang didn’t waste time with pleasantries and got straight to the point. After hearing Tan Fang’s explanation, Cheng Yu fell silent, pondering whether there was any flaw in the logical chain just described.

It wasn’t that he wanted to shirk work. If he didn’t act as a gatekeeper, simply fulfilling every requirement as it came, it would not only waste computer resources and his own time, but could also lead to erroneous conclusions due to an invalid data chain. If such a mistake occurred, the consequences would be far more serious.

“Just clicks and conversions? Different brands and products have different audiences, which fundamentally means these metrics are weighted.”

“Exactly, so we were thinking—if we assign grades to brands, wouldn’t that improve things?”

Seeing Cheng Yu raise the same concern, Cheng Li—who was anxious about her lack of presence—quickly chimed in.

“Assign grades using brand as a dimension?”

Cheng Yu was indeed intrigued by her suggestion and looked up at the speaker. But in the next moment, he shook his head repeatedly. “No, no, you’re doing this to select a product pool, right? The scores will eventually be publicized to suppliers. How are you going to explain brand grading to them? Would they accept it?”