I'm not sure that the article shows that testers are to see the first indication of project failure, but I'm sure that how testing is approached in the project

I'm not sure that the article shows that testers are to see the first indication of project failure, but I'm sure that how testing is approached in the project is a very good indicator of its potential to fail. I've always found that taking a design or specification and before you cut any code you sit down and plan both a test strategy and specific test it will immediately highlight any shortfalls in the specification as logical inconsistencies and unclear assumptions in the spec are immediately highlighted. If it is impossible to test a requirement, then you can be fairly sure that it will be very difficult, or impossible to develop it.