Marcos

i. What is your current assignment about?
I am in the Digital Customer Solutions team at ABB Turbosystems, helping shape and develop digital service offerings for turbochargers. As a trainee in business development, I work in a wide variety of tasks ranging from creating sales, project management and marketing support material, through actual data processing and analytics, to coordinating between different functions.

ii. Why did you select this assignment?
During my first assignment, I worked in statistical analysis of service operational data in a different business unit. The analysis was used to provide data-driven insights for decisions about how to implement ABB’s digitalization strategy for that particular product group. Switching to a more hybrid role in a business unit that was already taking the next steps in digitalizing the business seemed like a logical move towards my goal: getting a comprehensive understanding of and taking part in the digital transformation happening at ABB, from the embedded circuitry to the ultimate data-driven business decisions.

iii. Describe a typical „day in the life“ of you.
Commuting is the time for catching up on my reading, getting inspiration from great music and preparing the occasional pending tasks. At the office, about 25% of the time is spent in meetings and coordination, and the rest in generating output according to our Scrum-inspired development schedule. With this „agile“ mindset, it’s hard to pin down how a typical task looks like – from setting up databases and coding to defining product scope and project milestones, our sprints take a couple of weeks and then it’s on to the next task.

iv. What is the most interesting or fun part of your work? What is the most challenging part of your work?
Discussing heatedly with the software developers about bugs and scalability problems, and then half an hour later with sales people and business developers about customer value and complexity. Finally, connecting the dots, that is, trying to bridge that often underestimated gap through a cross-functional role. Trust me – not for the faint of heart. But also lots of fun.

v. What surprised you about your current assignment?
The incredibly wide international presence of ABB turbochargers for decades in the field, throughout several customer segments and industries. And the constant coordination needed between different business units within ABB that serve the same segments or even the same customers.

vi. What is the biggest takeaway/learning you will have from this assignment?
It is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and take initiative accordingly. Especially if you end up in a traditional industry with a record of resistance to change, remember: you are here to help drive the future. The question is not about whether to take any risks, it’s about which risks you will choose to take.