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From testing to Quality Leadership

01 Oct 2026

In this moment: Athanasia Kalogirou
One of my biggest reflections from MoTaCon today is that growing in Quality Engineering isn’t always about learning the next tool or framework.

Sometimes it’s about learning how to influence.

A great conversation today reminded me that spotting a risk doesn’t mean you have to become the owner of it.

Our role can be to make the risk visible, help connect it to the right people, and make sure it doesn’t quietly disappear.

And perhaps just as importantly — how we communicate matters.

Challenge when something needs challenging.
 Follow through when something needs action.
 But bring people with you along the way.

Lots to take away already, and we’re only part way through the day! 


Gokul Konda Sudarsan profile image
Gokul Konda Sudarsan
Test Manager
Mr

I’m a QA and Test Transformation leader with extensive experience across Quality Assurance, Test Management, Quality Engineering and complex digital transformation programmes.

My focus is on helping organisations improve quality, reduce delivery risk and increase confidence in technology change by establishing pragmatic QA strategies, effective governance and sustainable engineering practices.

I have experience leading testing across complex, multi-system programmes and regulated environments, particularly within Banking and Financial Services. My work spans QA strategy, test operating models, test maturity assessments, risk-based testing, quality gates, defect management, test automation, non-functional testing, test environments, test data and release readiness.

I’m particularly interested in transforming traditional testing functions into modern Quality Engineering capabilities. This includes Shift Left and Shift Right practices, continuous testing, automation-first approaches, DevOps integration, better use of quality metrics and stronger collaboration between Business, Product, Engineering and QA teams.

A growing area of interest for me is the application of Generative AI within Quality Engineering — including AI-assisted test design, requirements analysis, risk identification, automation, defect analysis, reporting and knowledge management. I’m also exploring how tools such as GitHub Copilot, Playwright and LLM-based solutions can improve QA productivity without compromising governance or quality.

I believe successful QA is not simply about finding defects. It is about preventing them, understanding business risk, providing evidence-based confidence and helping delivery teams build quality into the entire software lifecycle.

I enjoy exchanging practical experiences with the testing community, learning from other practitioners and contributing ideas around QA transformation, Quality Engineering, automation and the responsible use of AI in testing.

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