Autura Pathways: Get to Know Benton Barnett

Q: What Was Your First Role at Autura — How Did It Prepare You for Where You Are Now?

I was hired as a Technical Product Manager for our government towing management software solutions. The first six weeks after I joined, I focused primarily on the private property impound solution. It was my initial introduction to working in the towing industry. My colleague, Lenny Issacs, took me under his wing and acted as a mentor to me during the onboarding process. It was really nice to have that one person to ask questions and to help get familiar with processes. He taught me a lot of foundational information that I still refer back to today. The importance of bridging old-school and modern methods of operation and learning adds to the pre-existing complexity of the towing industry — which as so many moving parts.

Something else that helped prepare me well for my role was the introductions to teams and individuals across the company that Lenny facilitated when I joined. Through these introductions, I met people from various teams and departments, allowing me to get more comfortable with our respective worlds. This made it so that when we collaborated, everyone was already familiar.

Q: What Is Your Current Role at Autura?

Currently, I am Product Manager for Dispatch Network and Integrations. I oversee the full life-cycle of job requests — from when they are entered, sent to our towing provider customers, completed, all the way to when original towing job requesters are sent final details and all of the completed job information.

These tow requests can come from insurance groups, motor clubs, 911 call centers, and software providers. We have some of our own towing management software (TMS), and we also integrate with other third-party TMS providers.

This role provides me with a very exciting opportunity to gain visibility across the whole Autura organization. I have the pleasure of collaborating with different teams — I enjoy that.

Q: What Are Some “Secrets” to Success You Could Share?

Two practices that have helped me the most:

Stay flexible — keep an open mind: I have found that if I stay focused on one goal, I’m actually able to be more flexible during change. So, for example, my goal is to ensure our customers and tow providers are getting the best experience when they use our software. How we go about accomplishing this goal has, should, and will continue to change, but all my work still rolls up to that same goal.

Adopt a mindset of what I like to call no work above, no work below: In other words, I suggest you avoid delegating work that you aren’t willing to do yourself. And also, try re-framing from “work I can’t do” to “work I haven’t gotten to do yet.” For example, if I need a C-suite opinion, I will find a way to communicate my ideas. If I need to wade through excel files and conduct heavy analysis in order to prepare for that, I will. This allows me to focus on the work I need to do to achieve my key goal, and it helps me avoid any frustration along the way.

It also helps to work on a team where all the members have a similar mindset and approach. It helps everyone feel like we are all on the same page and in this together.

Q: What Advice Would You Give to Someone Who Wants a Similar Career Trajectory?

If you would like to be a Product Manager (PM), I advise getting comfortable with taking responsibility, asking questions, and taking fastidious notes.

I would also recommend:

Get used to a state of clarity over comfort — It might feel uncomfortable or embarrassing to ask a lot of questions (even those that may seem obvious) but ultimately, it’s more important to get the information you need upfront rather than working off of an assumption.

Practice prioritization — This is crucial to the PM role. By remembering goals and staying focused on them, you can learn what is and isn’t making an impact. It sounds simplistic, but stopping to think about your work can make a huge difference. Avoid working on whatever work comes across your desk. Instead, consider if the work others are asking you to do aligns with your goals.

Thank you to Benton Barnett for sharing your Autura Pathway! Interested in learning about career opportunities at Autura? View our current job openings.