Some products look flawless in the lab… and still collapse in the field.
In this episode, we unpack a hard truth that engineers and leaders ignore at their own risk: passing standard tests is not the same as surviving real customer conditions
My guest, Amol Kadam (Mechanical Engineer, PG–MIT Pune, 20+ years across automotive, industrial, and power sectors), shares a generalised—but very real—story of a complex system that cleared every formal validation step, only to fail repeatedly after deployment in extreme environments.
This is not a technical post-mortem. It’s a leadership episode about risk, assumptions, accountability, and how mature teams respond when reality hits.
What you’ll learn
- Why “lab-ready” is not “field-ready” (and how leaders confuse the two)
- The early signal that tells you it’s systemic, not a one-off defect
- How to redesign validation so it mirrors actual customer use
- Why blame kills learning—and curiosity accelerates solutions
- The one question Amol now refuses to skip before approving any test plan
- Who must be in the room when diagnosing real-world failures (hint: not just engineering)
Key takeaway: If your customer environment is tough, your testing must be tougher—and your leadership must be calmer.
🎧 Listen, reflect, and share this with someone who still thinks all tests passed means we're safe.
Connect with Amol: LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amol-kadam-a9a97bb/