Get to know Iwona

Iwona Skowronek: The CXO role is quite a multidisciplinary position. It requires collaborating with business and technical teams, overseeing different processes and assuring we are working together on the same strategy – at the centre of which are the users. As our services address a variety of sectors, different clients, including B2B and governmental, and engage many technologies – a deep understanding of customers’ needs is vital to ensure product-market fit. Since I joined NaviParking at the beginning of our journey, I utilize the knowledge accumulated over these years in supporting the company’s expansion abroad as well. Additionally, within the EU initiatives, I contribute to mobility-related international projects, promoting the role of intelligent technologies and parking policies in the context of sustainable development, digital transformation and the EU Green Deal.

IS: I identify myself with global actions convened to tackle climate change, traffic and worsening air quality. And in my opinion, we can only deal with these issues by taking a holistic view. We should be looking at the whole ecosystem of mobility and how solutions like smart parking can complement existing tools in achieving more balanced urban transport. In my view, smart mobility is inevitably correlated with sustainable mobility – meaning that intelligent technologies can improve the efficiency of transport – both people and goods. 

At NaviParking, we set an ambitious mission – improving the quality of lives in cities and communities by deploying intelligent technology solutions. It’s about how smart parking applications can impact user behaviour and make mobility less harmful to the environment. One of the verticals we address is electromobility – facilitating the access to EV chargers located on gated parking lots, thus encouraging the shift into more eco-friendly cars.

As the mobility landscape is changing and we are moving towards an economy of platforms, smart mobility, in my view, also means integration with other mobility players. So-called “super apps” bring digital customer experience to the next level, allowing you to do everything with the use of a single application. Merging mobility providers within one interface is important, not only from the angle of user convenience. It also works toward encouraging citizens to use multimodal transport, which is more sustainable than driving cars (especially those that are single-occupant).

IS: My passion for technology started years back, during medical studies. Initially, I was interested mainly in healthcare-related innovations. Later, when working at a telecom company, I bent towards topics focused on the ICT and Smart City sector. At that time, I was engaged in mentoring computer science students having innovative concepts and assessing the feasibility of their ideas. There were some events I was invited to, like Hackathon-of-Things, or other technology-related events with UMCS students and participants of a Microsoft Student Partner program. During one of the startup events happening at the European Parliament, I got to know NaviParking. 

What always intrigued me was the positive impact technologies can have on the environment, urban living, citizens well-being and driving the economic growth of countries and regions. Simply put – what was inspiring me was how modern technologies help create a better world.

IS: A fast-paced environment is something I strive for. A lot is happening in the technology space, and we keep adding new features and improvements on a regular basis. When compared with corporate work, in a startup you have more freedom to do things as fast as you would like, without this decision inertia that happens in a corporate world. You have these experimenting conditions, a kind of a living lab where things can change overnight. Overcoming challenges that arise from the technological, procedural, as well as UX/UI design side, needs to be supported by robust documentation and communication for which we use a variety of software – Jira, Kibana, Asana, Pipedrive, Slack. Thanks to this, I feel I am always up to date with the newest tools.

IS: What makes my job interesting is prototyping new solutions and customizing them for different clients, based on understanding their needs. As I mentioned, the economy of platforms requires partnership building and going beyond just the parking domain. There are many stakeholders in our ecosystem – parking owners, drivers, municipalities, parking management systems providers, mobility partners, payment integrators etc. Trying to universalize our products and user journey across different kinds of facilities and use cases is equally challenging as absorbing. UX-driven development and fast validation of initial concepts force us to often change priorities on our roadmap. Embracing change, dealing with uncertainty is something normal. And it is exciting 🙂

We are learning while we are sailing – when we put a product on the market, we start to learn what works and what doesn’t. Then, we need to reconsider the initial product features based on evidence and feedback. Running experiments, quick adaptation, making fast decisions and changing course often adds to the dynamic of the situation which is inspiring and drives our agility. Personally, I like this fast-paced environment, although I know there are some personalities who prefer a more predictable type of work.

IS: If I had to mention one thing that had the greatest impact on revolutionizing transport in recent years – there wouldn’t be flying cars nor autonomous vehicles – but a smartphone 🙂 With the use of mobile applications, users have been empowered with data, allowing them to arrange their daily trips in a convenient way. What is inspiring for me is not only observing how the mobility sector evolves but playing an active role in co-creating its future. As Jim Hackett said: “for the first time in a century, we have mobility technology that won’t just incrementally improve the old system but can completely disrupt it”. I believe that by digitizing processes, things are becoming disruptive. And the digital transformation of parking enables us to completely reimagine parking as we know it today.

IS: Having worked remotely for most of my career (excluding 2 years at a corporation), the home office is for me a “business as usual” situation. I was lucky to be used to it when the pandemic started forcing companies and employees to switch 180 degrees their way of work. For me, pre- and during the pandemic was of no difference, thus I was not impacted by the covid-19 restrictions. Basically, I have a high degree of self-discipline (I don’t know any person that would be able to finalize a doctorate without being disciplined;), and I am a believer that self-organized teams enhance productivity and innovativeness in a company.

Remote work inevitably means teleconferences, and here I am a supporter of short and concise meetings, conducted according to a set agenda, with minimum people required. If someone’s help is needed, this can be done also in an offline mode, without the necessity of this person’s presence at the meeting. Amazon has a discipline requiring the preparation of written memos before the meeting. This means that people think through ideas before proposing them. 

Working with distributed and multicultural teams at NaviParking is an enriching experience. Although operating from different locations, in different time zones and workweeks that differ between Europe and the Middle East, we try to be helpful to each other and create a supportive, positive atmosphere. Having a common vision and goals is the only way to be unified and move forward in the same direction.

IS: Hobby means that a person has some specific interest to which is fully dedicated and spends all their free time on it. I wouldn’t say there are many people that can handle different “hobbies” as this may mean they are just their “preferred activities”, not exactly hobbies 🙂 What I want to say is that the term “hobby” does not apply to me; apparently, I am too diversified [laugh]. In my free time, I prefer outdoor activities, both in a city and off the beaten tracks. During the pandemic, I rediscovered walking, which has become my favourite mode of mobility. I also convinced myself to jump on an e-scooter. I even bought one recently that is capable of riding 60 km without the need to recharge, which is quite impressive, isn’t it? :)) My recent interest is flying drones – of course, not just for flying but for exploring remote places and taking photos of nature and architecture. Although I fly a mini drone weighing only 249 grams, the EU regulations now require obtaining a pilot license, which I am going to get soon.

Regarding cultural events, I like visiting museums, exhibitions, going to a theatre, opera and attending live performances. But my preference is chamber performances over big concerts. This allows for creating a more intimate contact with artists, with the possibility to chat or go to afterparty together, which sometimes happens to me [laugh]. When at home, I usually occupy myself reading business books, watching documentaries and every so often doing stretching – which is a mix of chosen asanas (that I used to practice several years ago) with elements taken from pilates. Aqua aerobics is a nice change to do from time to time, but it requires a swimming pool and logistics, which doesn’t make it an activity of the first choice.

IS: The aspect that most people don’t know about me is that I am a former perfectionist. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself, accepting nothing until it was perfect. And perfectionism holds you back from moving forward, which is non-acceptable in the tech sector. Our company requires us to start small with MVP, then iterate not having flawless products from the beginning. So, working at a startup has initiated my transformation, enabling me to overcome striving for the ideal. Not only this helped me to be more productive but also more satisfied with my work.