This is a really interesting topic chosen by Steve Jones of SQLServerCentral fame, and, for me, is a story of communication skills. What the business wants can be expressed in a few different ways, by varying people. For example, a high availability system might be described as having no downtime, or it might be described as having geographic redundancy. These requirements might be voiced in a few different ways:

or

or

or

Based on the premice that a little knowledge is dangerous, those statements are listed in order of increasing danger.

What do I mean by that? Well, the sentiment behind each of those statements is:

But the statements above start to not only specify the what - but the how. I have seen many, many systems where dubious architectural decisions have been taken at an early stage because 'that was the way Mr. Manager wanted it'.

Is it reasonable for us, not only as DBAs, but as computer scientists, to allow Mr. Manager to specify the how without a reasonable understanding of what was being asked for?

We've all been there - sitting in a meeting room and Mr. Manager comes up with another gem:

Everyone in the room knows that's not the way to go for the scenario at hand, but, strangely, nobody speaks up. Everyone has that slightly sinking feeling at the pit of their stomach, but nobody says a word.

And there, right there, is the failing. Both in Mr. Manager's 'I've just read about technology X and will suggest it every time I feel slightly out of my depth' and, in each of the people who failed to speak.

That sinking feeling doesn't mean 'Oh dear this system is going to be a mess'. That feeling means 'I need to speak up now in order to avoid a steaming pile of rubbish'.

You might not feel that you have the right environment in which to speak. Or maybe you feel like you shouldn't 'embarrass' Mr. Manager. Well, you're wrong. Ok, you can take times and places to deliver your message, but the message that needs to be delivered at the initial stage of the project is:

Sometimes, a picture can paint a thousand words. If you're having trouble, get out a flip chart and write, in big letters:

Below that, attach a print-out of this classic project picture:

That should make the point, while not embarrassing anyone, and getting things off to a good-humoured start.