I have a master’s degree in a non-technical subject. What I learned during my studies – academically and practically - formed an ideal basis for my previous job as editor-in-chief in a publishing company for non-fiction, scientific books. In my work today, I still employ many of the tools of the trade and skills that I acquired during that time, and the things I describe above as „needed for my job" are as valid today as they were then.

The small team that I am responsible for provides expertise in the areas of compliance to ISO 9001, ECSS, Galileo, military and other standards. We actively drive process optimisation; we collaborate with the people in our organisation to foster an environment of continuous improvement. Quality Assurance plays a strategic role in implementing best practices to meet the needs of our external and internal clients and stakeholders. Together with other colleagues, we monitor the evolution of our business, in particular those changes triggered by the new space market, and actively support the transition of Telespazio Germany by establishing cost effective quality frameworks with the aim of maintaining high customer satisfaction.

For this purpose, we differentiate Quality Management and Quality Control. Quality management is working on the organisation, to make it systemically capable of quality. This includes the provision/design of management systems, process landscapes, and the close link to organisational development (- QM being one contributor). Quality control means working on the product or service and the process, creating quality features - by translating customer specific contractual or regulatory requirements, and minimising errors. For this purpose, quality control makes use of processes, the process landscape, or management systems – as provided through quality management.

My day often feels a bit like the saying about travelling in New Zealand and experiencing four seasons in one day.

Quality management activities can be planned long in advance and are not so much driven by milestones. In our quality management role, audits can be scheduled, certification dates are known long in advance, and customer satisfaction surveys or supplier assessments can also be planned. Product assurance-related activities performed as Project Quality Engineer typically require a lot more flexibility and continuous adaptation to what others need and when they need it. While some activities happen on a continuous basis depending on the specific scope of the project, the phase the project is in, or also on the type of project, activity peaks come with minor or major milestones. This applies to the project teams as much as to the PQE, and is often a race against time. Examples of the first are providing consultancy on technical QA issues, helping to establish project-specific processes, supporting tooling decisions, and monitoring. Examples for the latter are formal reviews, the activities preceding them and their post-processing.

Things needed for my job: • Know-How – I need to know what the international quality standards that are relevant for what we do in our company say (= require) and understand how our customers translate that into their own quality or product assurance requirements. Equally, I need to understand our markets, products and services, who our clients are and could be in the future. • Passion – (not a skill admittedly but a must) Inspiration and passion go hand in hand. Inspiring the people around you for quality is rooted in the passion for quality that we reflect. Bad quality or dissatisfied customers are not an option. • Communicator – Enjoying interaction with others, listening to them, learning from them, offering know-how and advice, and convincing with good arguments • Curiosity – Even in our relatively stable environment, change is a constant undercurrent and we embrace it. Quality depends on it, even in a VUCA world. • Team spirit – Quality products, services and processes are very rarely achieved by one person alone. It’s working together towards this goal that does the job.