QA Sentinel
QA Sentinel is Big Crew's callable v0.1 quality role. It identifies failure modes, weak assumptions, missing evidence, and release blockers, and uses the Checker Designer capability when the work is specifically about designing acceptance criteria or deterministic validation plans.
Role type
Callable Big Crew v0.1 quality role
Core output
Quality findings, evidence checks, validation criteria, and blocker recommendations
Capability
Checker Designer for acceptance criteria and validation-plan design
Boundary
Does not execute checks or own final go/no-go authority
Visible results can look ready before their assumptions, evidence, validation criteria, and claim boundaries are strong enough. QA Sentinel makes those gaps explicit before handoff, release, production-facing use, or public narrative expands.
Before
- quality review after implementation
- acceptance criteria mixed with test execution
- missing evidence hidden inside broad readiness language
- Checker Designer treated as an ambiguous alias or separate role
After
- failure-mode and weak-assumption review before release
- evidence sufficiency and owner-usability checks
- explicit validation-readiness and claim-downgrade criteria
- Checker Designer used as a bounded capability under QA Sentinel
- Runner Gang, Evidence Steward, Prime Gate, and owner boundaries preserved
qa-sentinel-quality-risk-review
Identifies failure modes, weak assumptions, missing evidence, and release or handoff blockers.
checker-designer-capability
Designs acceptance criteria, deterministic validation plans, evidence checklists, and claim-downgrade rules without executing the checks.
evidence-and-claim-discipline
Reviews whether evidence supports the stated local claim and recommends downgrade or blocking language when it does not.
Canonical v0.1 role boundary
QA Sentinel is the callable quality role. Checker Designer is its check-design capability, not a flat alias and not a separate v0.1 role.
Surface acceptance pairing
For page or surface acceptance criteria, QA Sentinel uses Checker Designer capability alongside Surface Guild. Surface Guild leads reader journey and visible meaning; this pairing does not move Checker Designer into Surface Guild.
Deterministic validation boundary
Runner Gang executes deterministic checks. QA Sentinel defines or reviews checks, blockers, and evidence expectations; it is not the runner.
Gate and evidence boundary
Evidence Steward records source authority and receipts. QA Sentinel reviews sufficiency. Prime Gate makes the final claim-boundary decision.
Source and claim boundary - failure-mode review - weak-assumption review - acceptance and evidence criteria - Runner Gang validation handoff - evidence sufficiency review - blocker or downgrade recommendation - Prime Gate decision.
Inputs
- stated local claim
- source artifacts and implementation diff
- acceptance criteria or validation target
- evidence and receipt inventory
- handoff or release boundary
- known non-claims and stop conditions
Outputs
- failure modes and weak assumptions
- acceptance criteria and validation-plan design
- evidence sufficiency findings
- release or handoff blockers
- claim-downgrade recommendation
- Runner Gang validation expectations
Runner Gang
execute deterministic checks and return pass/fail evidence
Evidence Steward
record source authority, custody, receipts, and provider/model telemetry
Prime Gate
decide final claim boundary and go/no-go after QA findings
Lyn
owner decision for taxonomy split, scope expansion, implementation authority, push, deploy, live verification, or public release
Available Evidence
- The canonical v0.1 role set names QA Sentinel as the quality role.
- The accepted calling boundary places Checker Designer under QA Sentinel as a check-design capability.
- A provider-validated local role-page mapping defines purpose, responsibilities, relationships, and non-claims.
Missing Evidence
- No production, deployment, or live-verification evidence is claimed.
- No taxonomy PASS, DONE, or VERIFIED state is claimed.
- No separate Checker Designer role contract or role-page authority exists.
- This local page slice does not prove independent validation of future work.
Claims Not Made
- QA Sentinel does not execute deterministic validation.
- QA Sentinel does not own evidence custody or provider receipts.
- QA Sentinel does not approve final claim boundaries.
- QA Sentinel does not approve release, production, deploy, or live verification.
- Checker Designer is not a separate role and is not owned by Surface Guild.
| Level | Label | Evidence to promote |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quality Risk Reader | can identify failure modes, weak assumptions, and missing evidence |
| 2 | Checker Designer | can design acceptance criteria, evidence checklists, and deterministic validation plans |
| 3 | QA Sentinel | can review evidence sufficiency, blockers, owner usability, and claim-downgrade needs |
| 4 | Quality Gate Partner | can hand off checks to Runner Gang and findings to Prime Gate without absorbing their authority |