Design by Committee
What happens when too many people contribute to a design without a single unifying vision. The result is often a muddled compromise that satisfies no one.
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Origin
The pejorative phrase emerged from political and bureaucratic contexts in the United States by the 1950s. The Reader's Digest featured an early version in September 1954 in "Toward More Picturesque Speech," connecting camels and committees. Vogue magazine formalized it in July 1958: "A camel looks like a horse that was planned by a committee." The saying critiques outcomes produced by too many competing voices, highlighting that committees may represent diverse interests but produce compromised, incoherent results.
Updated February 22, 2026