This experience report, by a project’s technical architect, details the adoption of agile methods across several teams after one high profile success. The organization had a long history of waterfall development and a clearly defined remit for technical architects. Years of refinement had led to a set of techniques which contradicted many of the ideals held by agile practitioners. The author’s challenge was to maintain agility and fulfill responsibilities inherited from waterfall processes without reverting to the conventional practices that ultimately lead to the architect’s ivory tower.