Quality Intelligence: Embedding the Customer Voice to Drive Excellence with Kristine O'Connor

Quality is more than just catching defects! It's a direct line to customer success and superior business outcomes.

Many Agile practices still focus on mere defect detection instead of leveraging Quality Intelligence (QI) to fundamentally re-envision customer experiences, accelerate organizational learning, and create true product differentiation.

In this presentation, we explore how functional experts—including QA engineers, test automation specialists, developers, and Agile leaders—can partner strategically to adopt Quality Intelligence and transform their approach:

🎙️ Integrate the Voice of the Customer: Make customer feedback the cornerstone of your quality strategy.

🧠 Leverage Intelligence for Proactive Decisions: Shift from reactive defect fixing to proactive, informed strategy.

🔄 Reimagine Agile Testing as Strategic Learning: Use testing as a mechanism for continuous discovery and improvement.

🤝 Bridge Quality and Product Management: Align quality efforts directly with product strategy and customer value.

Through real-world examples and actionable takeaways, you will get a comprehensive playbook for turning Agile testing and quality practices into a decisive competitive advantage. Discover how quality can become a primary driver of product strategy, customer trust, and enterprise value.

About the Speaker: Kristine O'Connor
Kristine O'Connor is a highly experienced Sr. Agile Transformation Consultant with Agile Rising. With a background in the United States Navy, Kristine has spent over 18 years in various software quality roles, starting from manual testing to Sr. QA Project Manager, and working as an Agile and DevOps practitioner in a Fortune 4 organization.

Since 2018, she has focused on coaching and transformation, achieving her Certified Agile Coach (ICC-ACP) and Scaled Agile Practice Consultant (SPC) certifications. Kristine has supported major organizations including Aetna, CVS Health, Bank of America, Northrop Grumman, and NASA.

At Agile Rising, she works as a Coach, mentor, and Agility Health facilitator. Her passion is empowering functional testers, enriching the mindset needed to transform into a high-performing learning organization, and facilitating meaningful, intentional change.