It is amazing how many times I run across  this situation. The  President of the  company  “delegates” the process of choosing the new computer software program. Then when the choices are laid out in front of him (or her) by his (or her) subordinate(s), he  (or she) completely ignores the findings and “goes with his  gut”.

This seems ridiculous, but it happens much more often than you could imagine. In a best case scenario the decision might actually be made on the golf course or at some cocktail party, based on a good report that was received.  In other cases, it is strictly based on the personality of the salesperson or the size of the vendor, the location of the vendor,  or some other irrelevant piece of information.

This is bad for two reasons. The valuable information that has been gathered by the team is not used to proper advantage. Worse yet, the employee(s) that did all the discovery are undermined and demoralized. This is not a good way to start the implementation of a new system.

Top management has to stay involved with the process or be willing to give complete authority along with the responsibility to the people doing the research. This is a very important decision and my vote would be for top management to stay completely involved throughout the process.