5 minutes with… Daniel Egan
Daniel, a Cape Town-based Product Owner, has 2 years of experience in the role and a decade-long history in the hospitality sector. He is passionate about team empowerment and development, always seeking new ways to motivate his teams to go the extra mile.
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn in May 2023 and Daniel has kindly given permission for the content to be added here.
Why did you choose a career in product management?
I had always really enjoyed working in diverse teams and rising to face challenges within a team. With the onset of the Pandemic basically killing off my initial industry and with the news of us welcoming our Daughter into the world, I knew I needed to make a change into an industry where I could continue doing what I love as well as embrace a complete new world. My brother was involved in the tech industry and recommended I have a look at product management as it has some similar traits in what I found fulfilment in. I jumped in with both feet and have never looked back.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?
It can be a very intimidating and scary thing, or at least it was for me when I started. You are surrounded by some really passionate and intelligent people who think differently to the majority of people you come across day to day. It's still a relatively new industry and things change at a rapid pace in terms of new strategies and ways of working. Embrace it all, there is no set solution of how to do things, rather what works for you and your team together.
To further that, what works today may not work tomorrow or may not work as well, there is always a way to iterate, highlight pain points, have open discussions to formulate a new approach. It really is an amazing journey with the right people.
Have you ever worked on a particularly difficult project? Why was it rubbish/tough/hard?
The latest project we worked on was very close to my heart as it was an app that directly serviced the hospitality sector and more specifically the food beverage area. I was tremendously passionate about this and knew we could really build something that would impact the life of people in a positive way. The problem we faced was that it all depended on integrating with the clients legacy point of sale software. We had spent months upskilling and pushing on completing the UI and making it something really remarkable only to be let down by the client not wanting to invest in the time it would take to correctly integrate with their API that the original creators where no longer available to help guide us through. This then meant that the project ultimately would cost a lot more than initially expected and the project was shelved probably never to see the light of day.
What do you think are the most important skills for a product, delivery or project manager to have?
I feel the best quality / skill for some working in delivery is the communication aspect of the job. Sounds cheesy I know, but it really is for me the biggest part. Not only is the ability to communicate but also to listen and I mean truly listen. Understanding what drives and motivates your team, understanding what your client deems as value and being able to deliver this by being that supportive member in the team is a trait that will serve you well.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing product managers today?
Other than the demands for accurate estimates? I think one of the challenges that I could accurately speak to and what I have experienced is that companies often miss understanding the role of product owners and believe they can service the role of SCRUM masters as well. This is troubled water to be treading in for sure and with my limited experience so far within the industry would name this as a pain point.
What projects would you have loved to have been involved in?
For me, I really would love to remain involved within the hospitality sector and continue in the creation of the next big innovation that services the restaurant industry. But at the same time, I feel I am doing myself a disservice in not experiencing what else is out there. I think the mobile space is massive and fast paced and could see myself becoming very passionate about working in the mobile app development space that is focused in the financial sector.
This post is part of a services called ‘5 minutes with’ series of articles from people in the delivery management and project management space.