Always expecting change while improving the quality

Hi, I am Sayali and I work as a Quality Lead in the R&D unit in Pune, India. In addition to my quality manager work, I also help our unit leadership team. This involves participation in deciding on the vision and OKRs, working on the unit goals, and tracking progress.

I was born in the central part of India, in a city called Nagpur, and raised in multiple small towns across the country, Because of my father’s job, our family never stayed in one place for long. I changed schools multiple times and therefore have never been too attached to any one place. I do not ever think that anything is set – I always expect change.

I have worked with a lot of different transformations in my career. I believe everything in life is very interconnected: my childhood and the way I was raised are reflected in my career choices. I have chosen to have a career as a change agent and worked a lot with process transformations. I am attracted to the idea that every big transformation is made of many small changes.

Next, I switched to building a career in quality assurance, working as a senior consultant for 8 years. I took on multiple roles, for example related to internal audit and support of CMMI implementationThis taught me to be very attentive to details as well as to cultivate the habit of cross-checking everything. I’ve heard people say that this is not a very glamorous area of work as it runs in the background, but I disagree – I find it fulfilling and enjoyable.

My next company was a French investment bank, where I joined the transformation office to help with the agile transformation. I got to do a lot of agile coaching there.

The story of how I joined KONE is quite interesting. During the pandemic, I began to look for a job in Pune to be able to live in my own house instead of paying the high rent for the place in Mumbai. I got a call from KONE very soon after updating my CV, but I was not sure if I was the right person for a job in quality assurance in a manufacturing company. However, when I saw the description of the role, I realized that my experience matched it very well, as the job was for KONE’s Digital Services division. It was interesting to join a solid brand but a much smaller team than before (around 100 people in Pune at that time) and to be able to see the impact of my work directly.

All my previous companies had over 100,000 employees, and I had felt that the results of my work remained invisible. The culture at KONE is very different – it is nimble and agile. I would say in Pune it was similar to a start-up culture, without the risks of a start-up. Here I am able to see the direct impact of my work, and that brings a kind of satisfaction I never had earlier. I also think that working closely with real products that impact people’s lives so directly adds excitement to my work.

My responsibility as a quality lead includes improving the quality of products, which breaks down into the quality of work and processes. In practice, that means that I coach, guide, collaborate, and work together with the teams to organize all the small pieces that lead to a great product to run seamlessly. Building a culture of continuous improvement is a joy. I also support teams in their agile journey. One of the most important things to ensure the quality process is of course the team spirit and dynamics – motivated people, with the right skills, good communication and teamwork. A respectful and open culture plays a key role here. KONE is the first company where I see people with very diverse backgrounds, especially in education and work experience. Here we have people from embedded electronics, hardware, software, UI/UX design, product, business, and many more areas working in each product team. That’s fascinating.

I think our team in Pune has achieved a lot during the past few years. During the pandemic, we had never seen each other, so it was a big achievement to finally meet in person, and eventually start to feel like a “team”. We have also improved our agile maturity a lot, though there is still a lot to be done, and I am happy to see that this leads to greater products and a stronger focus on quality.

• Do what you like and do it the best you can, do not look too much at others or compare yourself with them.
• Your career is not a sprint; it is a marathon. It is a long journey, so use your energy smartly, it is ok sometimes to save your energy for the future.
  
• Keep learning. When you learn, you can’t go wrong.
  
• A unique mix of skills is vital. Each individual has multiple skills and qualities that are not always visible, but those are needed to differentiate in your career.
  
• Not everything can be achieved in a short time.
  
• Focus on your own self-development and enhancing your knowledge.

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