How to Do More with Less

1Will AI Replace Me?

By 10:00 p.m., the Alibaba Hangzhou office didn’t slow down. It intensified.

Why was I at the office at 10:00 p.m. you ask? The answer was simple. This was 996 culture, the unwritten rhythm of Chinese tech life: work from nine a.m. to nine p.m., six days a week.

Teams shouted across rows of desks. Screens flashed with dashboards in red and green. Phones rang nonstop. Product managers sprinted between departments with half-eaten buns in their hands. Delivery workers rushed in with bags of noodles and milk tea. Someone was always slamming a laptop shut while someone else yelled for an engineer. Every corner buzzed with problem-solving, creative fire drills, and last minute pivots.

Double 11 wasn’t a workday. It was a storm. It was also China’s largest shopping festival, similar to a Black Friday in the west. For some brands, a third of their annual sales were made during this period, which meant as a platform, a good part of our annual GMV was also pushed through around this time. GMV numbers were what investors would scrutinize because it impacted our stock price. Our stock price was tied to compensation. Compensation was the difference between putting a down payment on an apartment that year or the next year. All in all, it was an important time. For everyone.

I had been answering messages for so long that my computer felt like an extension of my biological body. A knock sounded at the edge of my consciousness. At first I thought it was a notification. ...