Project Management Lessons from the Game “Honor of Kings”

Speaker Introduction

Wang Hao, who joined JD.com in 2014 and now leads the POP project management team, shares his journey from a humanities background to IT, highlighting his passion for both work and extracurricular activities.

Project Integration Management

The game’s objective of destroying the enemy crystal tower is likened to defining clear project goals and breaking them into milestones; while individual hero kills are tempting, success depends on coordinated team fights, mirroring the need for integrated planning and milestone tracking in projects.

Project Human Resource Management

Choosing heroes for a 5v5 match parallels assembling a project team; each role (tank, mage, ADC, assassin, support) corresponds to project roles such as product manager, architect, developer, tester, etc. Proper role allocation and avoiding role‑overlap (e.g., developers doing testing) are essential for efficiency.

Project Communication Management

The game offers multiple communication channels—quick icons, chat messages, map pings—similar to face‑to‑face meetings, stand‑ups, video calls, and instant messaging in projects. Effective use of these channels reduces communication costs and keeps the team aligned.

Project Stakeholder Management

Just as the game has powerful but ambiguous entities like the “Lord” and “Tyrant,” projects have external high‑level stakeholders whose influence is high but whose stance may be unclear. Identifying and engaging such stakeholders (e.g., senior leaders) can greatly boost project outcomes.

Project Closing and Lessons Learned

After each match, the game provides a detailed statistics recap, akin to a project post‑mortem. Reviewing performance, sharing experiences, and archiving assets help the team continuously improve, ultimately leading to higher project success.