Architecture & practice·Making and recording decisions
the room had agreed until the director said what they preferred, and then everyone had a new opinion.
HiPPO
Also calledhighest paid person's opinion
A decision made by seniority rather than by evidence. It is not always wrong — senior people often hold context the room does not — but it becomes corrosive when it goes unnamed, because the team stops bringing options and starts guessing preferences. The countermeasures are procedural: opinions in writing before the meeting, the most senior person speaking last, and stating explicitly when a call is a preference rather than a conclusion.