Leadership Without a Title: The Quiet Power of Horizontal QA

When we think of leadership, we often picture someone with a title, a corner office, or a team of direct reports. But in the world of quality assurance, some of the most significant shifts do not come from managers. They come from people quietly connecting dots across squads, influencing practices, and shaping outcomes without any formal authority.

I have seen it time and again. Someone notices that three different squads are automating the same process in three very different ways. Instead of leaving it to chance or letting the teams muddle through, they take the initiative to bring everyone together. They align on one approach, share best practices, and ensure the work is clean and consistent.

Or consider the person who spots recurring defects across multiple streams. They do not just raise tickets. They dig into the root cause, discuss it with teams, and guide changes that prevent the problem from recurring. The impact of their work is felt across the organisation, even though no one has formally asked them to take the lead.

This is what I think of as horizontal QA. These are the people who advocate for consistency and standards across streams, share learnings and insights to elevate everyone's work, shape practices and processes through credibility rather than authority, and connect teams to maintain alignment in an increasingly autonomous environment.

Horizontal QA is especially important as organisations embrace agile and cross-functional teams. With squads working independently, it is easy for quality thinking to fragment. Someone has to see the bigger picture, prevent duplication, and ensure teams are not reinventing the wheel. That someone does not need a title. They need curiosity, credibility, and a willingness to influence.

Leadership is not defined by hierarchy. It is defined by impact. The quiet leaders I have described show that you can lead by connecting people, sharing knowledge, and driving meaningful change without a formal role or reporting structure.

Recognising this kind of leadership matters. It shifts how we value influence and contribution. Titles are useful, but they are not the only measure of leadership. In QA, the quiet leaders are often the ones driving the most lasting change, ensuring quality is not just maintained, but continuously improved.

The next time you think about who is leading QA in your organisation, look beyond the org chart. Look for the people quietly shaping quality every day. They may not have a corner office, but their work touches every team, every process, and every outcome. That is leadership at its finest.