Design by committee

[2] The term is commonly used in information and communications technology, especially when referring to the design of languages and technical standards, as demonstrated by USENET archives.

[3] An alleged example is the DR Class 119 diesel locomotive, built from 1976 to 1985 in communist Romania for East Germany due to Soviet-era Comecon restrictions.

Only the USSR was allowed to continue building powerful diesel engines, but they were too heavy for East Germany where some lines were limited to low axle load locomotives.

Not allowed to continue building their own designs, the East Germans managed to have Romanian 23 August Works assemble a successor to the DR Class 118.

[citation needed] An example of a technical decision said to be a typical result of design by committee is the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cell size of 53 bytes.

Uneven progress across areas and unexpected challenges meant that major technical fixes and redesigns could halt the program's movement, requiring planes to be remedied even as they were being delivered.

Remote controls with as many as 78 buttons have been cited as an example of a product designed by committee.
DR Class 119 diesel locomotive built 1976 to 1985 in communist Romania for East Germany
The poor reception and commercial failure of the Pontiac Aztek was attributed to design by committee.