Team Spotlight: Mike Hearn
This month we shine a Team Spotlight on our Technology Lead, Mike Hearn, for his one-year anniversary at Field Pros Direct. For those of you who are new here, this series is a Q&A style-blog that will introduce you to our team on a deeper level. We highlight a different team member on their anniversary and ask them questions ranging from professional to personal matters.
Simplifying complexities through continuous innovation is one of our core values. Our technology plays a critical role in that innovation, which is why Mike’s job has such a huge impact on the entire Field Pros Direct experience. Mike’s background ranges from former adjuster to overseeing operations at a previous technology company, making his wide-range of skills a perfect fit for his role here (and well deserving of the nickname “technology guru”). We all wear many hats, but it’s our experiences and expertise that give our team the diversity to truly innovate our solutions. Wearing many hats himself, Mike tells us about what being a technology leader means to him. Now it’s time to dive in and get to know a little more about Mike Hearn.
What is your role at Field Pros Direct? What does your average day-to-day look like?
As Technology and Product lead, my responsibility is the management of our proprietary software. That includes managing the product vision and roadmap. I work closely with our engineering department and business leaders to prioritize and release new product updates or features, ensuring the our product aligns with our overall vision.
“What does my average day look like?” I think I ask myself that on a daily basis, because is there really an “average day”? Simply put it is a lot of Slack, a lot of Asana and a lot of coffee. But really, it involves a lot of interaction with our business and engineering team to ensure that we are all in sync. I start the day reviewing communications to address any pressing items or bugs. If we encounter a bug it’s usually addressed first thing in the morning. If we have a new feature rolling out, I may be testing new features or helping support the internal or external users of the product.
Our external users drive what we do, with the goal to make their lives easier and provide a product they want to use. Feedback from that user group is critical. I love checking out their feedback so that we can find ways to incorporate their suggestions into future products and releases.
Over the past year, what was your most rewarding experience?
Honestly, I don’t know if there’s a specific experience, but a lot of rewarding experiences tie into our external users. When we see our users benefiting from our product, that’s really where I value the reward. I like to see people not only using our product, but actually benefiting from it. Anytime we get feedback like “wow this made my job easier” or “I never want to do another assignment without your product” that is what drives us and drives me.
What is your favorite benefit or feature of the Field Pros Direct solution?
That’s a pretty easy answer…the team. I wouldn’t even call it a team because I think we’ve really developed a family here. I know that sounds a little cliché, but the culture that Matt Anderson has developed here is certainly unique. I’ve had the privilege of working with Matt on other endeavors and he has a knack for assembling remarkable teams. This team is no different. The folks here are very forward thinking and aren’t afraid to try new things. It makes it easy to come to work every day. From a product leader perspective, it makes my job easier when you know you’re going to be supported by innovative minds when you’re trying to think of new ways to conquer some of the dated tasks the industry has.
To clarify “team”, we don’t just see team members as full-time Field Pros Direct employees. This is anyone we interact with on a daily basis which includes contract resources, our adjusters, and our partners.
Over the past year, what is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
One of the bigger lessons I’ve learned (and am still working on) is that sometimes it can be tough to manage expectations. In a world of product development, it’s all about getting product to market. Certainly, it can be tough to manage when ideally you want to release new updates as soon as possible. As the Product Leader, there is a fine line to walk to make sure that you’re releasing products timely, but more importantly making sure what we’re releasing is quality. Of course being “first to market” is important in the technology space. However, you don’t want to release new features just to release something - you want to make sure it’s quality and has impact.
In 3 words, how would you describe Field Pros Direct?
Family. Innovative. Disruptive.
I think we’ve actually hit on them all in the previous questions. The first would be family, no doubt. I think our entire team (internal and external) work very hard to make sure this is a family-like environment. We all work hard, play hard and have a great time together. The second would be innovative. We have a lot of great ideas that may even be strange to some extent. But I think we have a lot of innovative ideas on how we can truly innovate this industry, together. The last would honestly be disruptive. What we’re doing and what we want to do will change this industry. I know that may seem like a pie-in-sky thinking, but I truly believe that the vision we’re working to accomplish can certainly be disruptive. And that, to me, is exciting!
What we’re doing and what we want to do will change this industry. I know that may seem like a pie-in-sky thinking, but I truly believe that the vision we’re working to accomplish can certainly be disruptive. And that, to me, is exciting!
What is something that people may not know about you?
This probably won’t come as a surprise to some, but I’m not a huge social media person. I guess I personally like to keep some things private. One of my passions people may not know about me is that I love to fish. I’m a huge kayak angler. There’s something about fishing from a kayak that’s drawn me in the past few years. Maybe it’s the fact that you are wrangling in a large fish when you’re pretty much sitting on the water. I fish fresh water, salt water and even competitively. I’m based near Charlotte, NC so the great thing is I can get to coast in a little over 3 hours to do plenty of saltwater fishing. There are certainly plenty of lakes and rivers near me to get the best of both worlds.
Now for photos to debut Mike’s social media presence.
And that’s a wrap! Thanks for joining us for another Team Spotlight. You can find more about Mike Hearn at www.fieldprosdirect.com/meet-the-team or connect with him on LinkedIn.