What happens when a lifelong gamer and seasoned developer takes on product leadership in esports tech? Meet Tomas Campagni, Senior Technical Product Owner at GRID, and explore how his experience playing games and building software shaped his approach to product, why simplicity drives better solutions, and what makes working at the intersection of gaming and data so rewarding.
1. What drew you to product ownership, and how has your career evolved to focus on the intersection of tech and esports?
I have been coding and hacking ever since university and as a developer I have always focused on delivering usable software. At the same time, I’ve been playing Counter Strike, Starcraft and videogames in general a lot and spent my free time concocting strats and trying to convince my team to adopt them. The evolution to the Product Owner role just came naturally once I decided to move from the Developer world to a new set of challenges.
2. If you could describe your product philosophy in three words, what would they be and why?
Keep it simple. We work in a complex business, and oftentimes we risk building complex solutions and get lost in the weeds. The best products are the simplest solutions to real life problems, and that’s what I strive towards.
3. Esports and data solutions sound like a match made in heaven. What’s your favorite way GRID makes esports better?
With my team we focus on building APIs but when I see what visualisations can come out of the JSON results we expose, I am always delighted. The fact that we invest a lot of time in title-agnostic solutions means that our internal teams can build a visualization once and have it work for all our Titles. And that’s true for our customers, too!
4. As a Senior Technical Product Owner, how do you ensure GRID’s products remain innovative and valuable in the fast-evolving esports industry?
Not only do I personally play and follow the esports scene, but I’m surrounded by friends and colleagues who have similar interests. And of course, there’s talking with our customers directly, understanding their vision and what they want to build next.
5. Outside of work, what’s a hobby or passion that shapes the way you think as a product owner?
It’s surely games! I play everything, from board games to card games to video games, and I’m into game design and what makes games fun and compelling.
Look out for the next edition of Meet the Team!
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