Samir Umrikar – Quality Manager, Atos Excellence was the 1st runner’s up at India Quality League 2015, an annual contest that is held every year and attended by thousands of participants in India. After their success as a winner on 24th Febraury,2015 among 1020 participants, we caught up with Ramesh Ramanathan, interviewed him to find out more about their process behind his winning the contest. We also gained an insight on what influenced him and what advise he would give to the Participants in India to be a part of India Quality League 2016.
1. Did you need to prepare for the contest? If yes, how did you prepare?
Yes I did prepared for the context. I read about DevOps, Lean startup, ScrumBan etc new topics in Quality arena..
2. Imagine the moment when contest’s finals was starting and you were amongst the top 4 finalists. Were you intimidated by the competition?
I was in Top 4 finalist in 2013 as well as 2014. I was excited that I am in Top 4 teams. As Final was prestigious round so I was feeling proud to be part of it. It was very professionally conducted and level of questions were just testing our 15 years of experience. The feeling was like India in World cup finals.
3. Please share the first thought when you realised that you have won India Quality League.
There was sense of achievement and really was proud of my Quality knowledge and my Organization. It was feeling that “ATOS won Silver Medal.”
I was in 4th position in 2014 and on second position in 2015.
4. How did your friends, relatives and colleagues respond to your win. Do you remember any particular comment from your colleagues or company that you will like to share?
All organization was proud of my achievement. It was displayed in organization corporate Site. We also got appreciations from Quality Head and CXOs.
5. Quite a few wish to participate again in India Quality League. Will they have to compete with you – winner of 2015? 🙂
Its good to compete with more and more number of participants and prove ourselves. It will be a healthy competition.
6. Please describe your experience of the day the contest was held?
It was a good experience and professionally managed and conducted.
7. What do you think differentiated you from rest of the participants? What do you think they should have had in breakfast to win?
Actually to be in Finalist, it was test of my 15 years of knowledge and experience. You cannot study few things and crack seminal / Final round.
8. Do you think companies should encourage to participate at the prestigious India Quality League 2016 due in March in Bangalore?
Yes Organizations should encourage. It is not only National level Quality Quiz but also the “Experience”
9. Should cost of participation be borne by individuals or by their companies?
It depends upon company policies.
10. What message you have for those reading your interview and undecided about participating at the contest?
My message is – Please participate and get the experience / knowledge and networking. It helps.
For more details: Click Here
