Avoiding Expensive Wars: Core R&D, No Engineering, Product Without QA, Sales Without Post-Sales

Since the latter has a far smaller budget than the former, you also end up shouldering a lot of complex issues.

Think about it: can the people you bring to the table for resources be the same when your team is mostly made up of master’s graduates from top-tier (985) universities versus when it’s mostly bachelor’s graduates from less selective institutions?

Assignments that are easy to shine in, earn recognition for, and get rewards tend to go to the former. The latter often ends up doing thankless work—cleaning up messes, doing the dirty jobs where hard work goes unnoticed.

So we usually say the former gets credit for results without having to deal with the aftermath. But when tallying achievements, only the “kills” count; the “burials” are ignored.

This may sound frustrating, but it’s just how life works. If you’re leading a team like the latter, your days will be tough.

First, the budget is tight from the start, so you naturally earn less. Money has diminishing marginal utility: if your fixed baseline expense is 5,000 yuan no matter what, earning 6,000 yuan leaves you only 1,000 yuan more, but earning 12,000 yuan leaves 7,000 yuan more. It may look like they earn twice as much as you, but in reality, their surplus is seven times yours.

Your team will complain and grumble because they’re short on money. To keep those unstable emotions from spreading, you’ll need to spend both time and money—what we call the necessary overhead for maintaining team stability.

Think about it: you’re already earning less, yet you have to cover so many unnecessary expenses.

This is what I mentioned earlier: don’t expand the team unless absolutely necessary. If you do have to bring people in, make sure the overall quality of the team stays high. And if that’s not possible, at least make sure the quality declines only slowly.

The principle is simple: a well-funded team is much easier to manage than a cash-strapped one.