50名工程师支撑着一个10亿用户量的产品：成功因素之一是员工几乎不参会

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"blockquote","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp是全球最受欢迎的聊天软件之一，目前用户数量以达到10亿。让人惊讶的是，如此庞大的用户数量背后，是由一个仅有50名工程师的技术团队做支撑的。本文，我们从工程文化、技术栈等方面来解读WhatsApp如何仅用 50 名工程师就将用户规模扩大到 10 亿。"}]}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"WhatsApp 的工程文化"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"关于WhatsApp的故事有许多，其中有趣的部分之一是，它在如此小的团队中实现了如此巨大的规模。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"2014年，Facebook以 160 亿美元的价格收购即时通讯工具 WhatsApp，其中 40 亿美元为现金、提供价值 120 亿美元的 Facebook 股票、并为 WhatsApp 创始人和团队提供 30 亿美元限制股。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"刚被收购时，WhatsApp只有35名工程师，拥有超过4.5亿用户。如今，它雇佣了大约50名工程师，尽管WhatsApp的用户数量已经翻了不止一番，但庞大的用户群依然依靠这一小群工程人员来运行。谈及它成功的原因，WhatsApp的软件工程师Jamshid Mahdavi表示，部分诀窍在于，公司使用了一种名为Erlang的编程语言构建其服务。尽管在更广泛的编码社区中Erlang并不是很流行，但Erlang特别适合处理来自大量用户的通信，它允许工程师动态地部署新代码。但Mahdavi表示，态度和技术同样重要。总结起来可以概括为两点，务实、极简的工程文化和正确的技术选型成就了如今的WhatsApp。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp 的工程文化包括三个主要原则：1、大事化小；2、保持简单；3、全神贯注于任务。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"大事化小"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp 有意将工程人员保持在小规模，只有大约 50 名工程师。个人工程团队也很小，由 1~3 名工程师组成，每个团队都有很大的自主权。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"就服务器而言，WhatsApp 更倾向于使用数量较少的服务器，并且尽可能在最大程度上垂直地扩展每台服务器。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"之前，他们的目标是每台服务器拥有 100 万个用户（但是当他们向应用程序添加更多的功能，以及用户在每个用户基础上产生更多的活动时，这变得更加困难）。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"服务器数量减少意味着故障减少，从而使团队更易于处理。对于软件来说也是如此，它们限制了生产中系统和组件的总数。也就是说，需要开发、部署和支持的系统更少。不需要开发很多系统\/组件，然后进入维护模式（最终成为孤儿，直到出错）。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"保持简单"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp 的口号是“不要过度工程”。他们避免在系统和组件上过度投资。取而代之的是，他们专注于建立足够的可扩展性、安全性和可靠性。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"在进行技术选择的时候，其中一个关键因素是“什么是最简单的方法？”另外，他们避免在自动化方面的投资，除非完全必要。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"全神贯注于业务"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp 的产品设计非常专注。其主要目的是提供一个具有良好用户界面的核心通信应用程序。他们避免了额外的花里胡哨的功能，也不去实现那些不完全关注核心通信的功能。WhatsApp认为，简单的产品更易于维护和扩展。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"WhatsApp的技术栈"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"除了极简主义的工程文化以外，确定正确的技术方向以及合理搭建技术栈也是WhatsApp成功的秘诀之一。该技术栈围绕着三个核心组件：Erlang、FreeBSD 和 SoftLayer。"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Erlang"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"Erlang 是 WhatsApp 后端系统首选的编程语言。Erlang 从一开始就被设计用于并行性，容错性是该语言的一个主要特点。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"了解更多有关 Erlang 的容错性，链接如下："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/3172542\/are-erlang-otp-messages-reliable-can-messages-be-duplicated\/3176864#3176864","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/3172542\/are-erlang-otp-messages-reliable-can-messages-be-duplicated\/3176864#3176864"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"开发者使用 Erlang 的效率也非常高。但是，它是一种函数式语言，所以如果你不熟悉这种范式，则需要花一些时间来适应。这门语言非常简洁，只需少量几行代码就可以完成工作。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Open_Telecom_Platform","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"OTP"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]},{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"（Open Telecom Platform，开放电信平台）是 Erlang 的开源中间件、库和工具的集合。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"WhatsApp 尽量避免依赖关系，但它们确实使用了 Mnesia，一个 OTP 的分布式数据库。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"Erlang 也带来了热交换代码的能力。无需重新启动应用就可以将新的应用代码加载到运行中的应用。这样可以让迭代周期非常快，WhatsApp 可以快速地发布补丁，并且服务的运行时间非常长。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"想了解WhatsApp 的后端究竟是如何用 Erlang 构建的，链接如下："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LJx6mUEFAqQ","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LJx6mUEFAqQ"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"更重要的是，Erlang允许编码人员高速工作——这是现代软件开发的另一个重要部分。它提供了在应用程序继续运行时将新代码部署到应用程序的方法。在这个不断变化的时代，这比以往任何时候都有用。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"Erlang语言确实有它的缺点。最主要的缺点之一就是了解Erlang的程序员相对较少，而且它不一定与当今互联网公司已经构建的许多代码兼容。Facebook用Erlang构建了最初的Facebook聊天应用程序，但最终进行了重建，以便更好地适应其其他基础设施。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"FreeBSD"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"FreeBSD 是 WhatsApp 服务器使用的操作系统。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"决定使用 FreeBSD 的是 WhatsApp 创始人，这是基于他们之前在雅虎的经验。创始人（以及许多早期团队）都曾经是雅虎的一员，而雅虎广泛使用 FreeBSD。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"想了解WhatsApp 到底是如何使用 FreeBSD 的，可打开链接查看详情（请注意，这个讲座是 2014 年的，所以其中一些内容现在可能已经过时了）："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TneLO5TdW_M","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TneLO5TdW_M"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"SoftLayer"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"SoftLayer 是 WhatsApp 在 2016 年使用的托管平台。他们选择 SoftLayer 主要有两个原因："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"1、拥有一流的操作系统 FreeBSD。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"2、能够订购并操作裸机服务器。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"但是， SoftLayer 属于 IBM（IBM 公有云的一部分），后来 WhatsApp 从 SoftLayer 迁移到了使用 Facebook 的基础设施。2017 年，他们开始迁移。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"结语"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"低调的工程师们并没有对外界透露出WhatsApp更多的成功秘诀，当被要求解释公司成功的秘密时，Mahdavi的回答很简单。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"他表示："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"blockquote","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"公司之所以成功，是因为聘用了适应性强的工程师——在多个方面都是如此。最重要的就是要非常专注于你需要做的事情。不要把时间花在其他活动、其他技术，甚至是办公室里的事情上，比如会议。在WhatsApp，员工几乎从不参加会议，这也是关键所在。"}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":" "}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"参考链接："},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.quastor.org\/p\/how-whatsapp-scaled-to-1-billion","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/www.quastor.org\/p\/how-whatsapp-scaled-to-1-billion"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]}]}