From Traditional Software to Internet Architecture: Li Biao’s Journey at JD.com and the Design of a Task‑Driven Engine

Architects are one of the three ancient professions, alongside physicians and lawyers; in the digital world, architects create order for code. Li Biao, head of JD.com’s POP platform, embodies this role.

On his first day at JD in February 2012, Li faced a major incident: the POP merchant system’s Oracle database crashed due to hundreds of workers performing full‑table scans on a task table, overwhelming the database.

After diagnosing the cause, Li and his team designed a task‑driven engine—a task storage and management system that decouples workers from the Oracle database, dramatically improving task execution efficiency and eliminating the database bottleneck. He led the architecture and development, delivering the solution within a month.

Li emphasizes that databases are the backbone of software; their failure can cripple an entire business. His successful resolution marked the start of his journey as an internet architect at JD.

Later, Li led the 7FRESH project, JD’s 2017 online‑offline integrated fresh‑food supermarket. The project required innovative system design across in‑store production, POS, and smart devices, with a strong focus on flexibility, extensibility, and loose coupling. JD’s “building‑block theory” promoted component‑based development, increasing the project’s complexity but also its reusability.

The 7FRESH team spent roughly half a month on system design, followed by over a month of development and another month of integration testing, ultimately launching on schedule.

Li stresses the importance of solid fundamentals—high concurrency, distributed systems, and componentization—as the foundation for modern internet development. He advocates continuous personal growth, aligning individual goals with company objectives, and fostering a learning‑oriented organization.

As a member of JD’s talent‑development committee, Li manages a 60‑person R&D team, promoting open sharing, cross‑departmental design reviews, and regular technical talks to cultivate a collaborative culture.

His advice to engineers: build system design capabilities, become industry experts, and maintain a high standard of technical competence while embracing teamwork and continuous learning.