KC 2.1.2 - Quality Champion

Success in today’s quality deployment is almost always expressed in financial terms. Because of the recent economic conditions in the software industry, any significant cost saving metric is almost certain to cause an immediate and "eye-catching" phenomenon amongst most managers and executives. Frustrated by the lack of progress and efficiency, despite significant spending on tools, training and processes, management is always on the hunt for a new fix or an answer to their concerns. This in itself is part of the problem. Software is still lagging in terms of efficiency, quality, cost and customer satisfaction. However, uneducated decisions by these very managers may have been the cause the problem in software to begin with. Another uneducated decision about how to implement quality management will only compound the problem. In response to this we need to be diligent in how we educate interested managers and executives relative to the truths and myths of quality management.

Here comes the role of a true champion.

Defn. Business leaders and senior managers who ensure that resources are available for training and projects, and who are involved in project tollgate reviews.
As given by the CBOK itself, the quality champion is the spokesperson for quality within the IT organization; shares responsibility with IT management to market and deploy quality programs.
This role can have provocative names including Executive Champion, Deployment Champion and so forth in larger organisations which clearly differentiates the functions.

Implementation of quality management needs a culture change. A Quality Champion should be such a person who can handle things dynamically, effectively and efficiently. The need for a quality champion may last for 2 to 3 years.