[Normal_gaussian]

> And on a team, doesn't everyone have a vote?

No.

It would largely depend on the structure of the team as to what is optimal, however it is obvious that even though the h/w specialist should be involved in the discussion of the DB system we use on the device it is the data specialist who makes the decision.

Many decisions have many more involed parties than decisionmakers for good reason.

[wtbob]

Good point. Well, FWIW parliamentary procedure can still handle non-voting parties, e.g. the non-voting representatives of U.S. territories in the U.S. Congress.