committee

a camel is a horse designed by a committee

Committees, due to their reliance on several different opinions and viewpoints, produce results that are fragmented, inefficient, or of poor quality, especially compared to the work of a single individual or a small team. A: "Did you see this latest memo? Can you believe the asinine decisions the task force made?" B: "Well, a camel is a horse designed by a committee."
See also: by, camel, committee, design, horse

a committee is a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours

proverb Committees take a very long time to accomplish something, if they accomplish anything at all. A pun on "minutes," which is a record of what is discussed at a particular meeting. A: "The task force has been in a meeting all day! How can they not have reached a decision by now?" B: "Well, a committee is a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours."
See also: and, committee, group, hour, keep, men, minute, of, waste, who
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • a camel is a horse designed by a committee
  • quot homines tot sententiae
  • tot
  • argue about (something)
  • argue with
  • argue with (one)
  • argue with (someone) about (something)
  • at opposite poles
  • be strange bedfellows
  • make strange bedfellows
References in classic literature
`Is the committee willing to hear this witness?' -- `Yes, yes,' they all said at once.
To the committee the adventure was so extraordinary and curious, that the interest they had felt for the count's safety became now quite a secondary matter.
"`Madame,' said the president, `you have engaged to furnish the committee with some important particulars respecting the affair at Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the event.' -- `I was, indeed,' said the stranger, with a tone of sweet melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East.
`Gentlemen,' said the president, when silence was restored, `is the Count of Morcerf convicted of felony, treason, and conduct unbecoming a member of this House?' -- `Yes,' replied all the members of the committee of inquiry with a unanimous voice.
Count of Monte Cristo
I have heard to-night similar, but even more offensive, sentiments from the person who has just sat down, and though it is a conscious effort of self-effacement to come down to that person's mental level, I will endeavor to do so, in order to allay any reasonable doubt which could possibly exist in the minds of anyone.' (Laughter and interruption.) `I need not remind this audience that, though Professor Summerlee, as the head of the Committee of Investigation, has been put up to speak to-night, still it is I who am the real prime mover in this business, and that it is mainly to me that any successful result must be ascribed.
The Lost World
For Banking and Finance Committee, Gbajabiamila announced Rep.
Gbajabiamila Announces Chairmen Of 109 House Standing Committees
Meanwhile, Dela Rosa got his second chairmanship of the committee on peace, unification and reconciliation.
Cynthia Villar gets 3 Senate committee chairmanships
Home Minister Amit Shah finds representation in all of them while Prime Minister is on-board six committees barring Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
Rajnath's name added to 4 more Cabinet Committees
ISLAMABAD -- Asad Qaiser, Speaker National Assembly, has said that parliament being the representative of people should legislate for the welfare of the masses and the role of standing committees cannot be denied in this regard.
Parliamentary output requires effective and proactive standing committees: NA Speaker
Enrolment sub committee's in all Provinces including Islamabad,
PEC forms 18 committees
Junaid Akbar, Sher Akbar Khan and Nawab Sher of PTI , Ahsan Iqbal and Junaid Anwar Chaudhry of PMLN and Murtaza Mahmud of PPPP were named as members of Committee on Planning, Development and Reform.
Speaker constitutes 36 National Assembly committees
The elections for 308 members of 27 council committees were held
City Council elects its committee members
The city council adopted a resolution for making the Mayor as chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Council under rules 28(5) of the Sindh Councils (Conduct of Business) Rules 2016.
City Council elects candidates for 27 committees
These committee include the Administrative affairs Committee(7members), Finance Committee(7members), Legal Affairs Committee(7members).
City Council elects its committee members
KARACHI -- The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has appointed Chairpersons of 19 Sub-Committees and four Special Committees for the year 2018-19.
KCCI finalizes 19 Sub-Committees, 4 Special Committees for 2018-19