"Quality Architect"

[textile]A colleague, Kerry Jones, brought "this article":http://www.theserverside.com/tt/articles/article.tss?l=ArchitectAppQuality to my attention today. It discusses the necessity of a role called "Quality Architect". I found it especially interesting since it describes a role that is similar to the one I fulfil on Agile teams or organisations adopting Agile methods (although often with the title 'Test Lead'). I don't entirely support some of the underlying emphasis on planning and design, but the general idea of the "Quality Architect" (translated to an 'Agile' environment) is a role that I can relate to. The author, Allen Stoker, affirms that

...large teams with diverse skill sets need a Quality Architect - a highly skilled technical person on your team who has no assignment but to support or 'enable' the other team resources. Such a resource can mean the difference between project success and failure.

Although Allen's article isn't backed by statistical evidence that such a role is the difference between success or failure, I could cite 11 years worth of anecdotal evidence that would suggest that he has a point.