In [[Sun]] we used to have an [[ARC]]. It was supposed to oversight the technological decisions and technological decision only. The [[ARC]] could even block a project for not fulfilling all the technological requirements. However there always was a way to make a ''business decision'' and ship the product anyway (I've seen this few times). The rumour however has it, that when some product team ignored the technical decisions too often and over-used the ''business decision'' power, the whole issue was taken up to higher decision levels and such team was forced to align with technical requirements (I have never seen that, probably because nobody ignored the technical objections long enough).