Where this stuff really fails (IMO) is when execs throw together a half-baked structure around a project, and throw minimally qualified human resources and a few consultancy firms at it. Knowing that "shit rolls downhill", it's always the developers who end up sweeping up the mess working endless hours trying to make deadlines, ensuring everyone further up the hill looks good to their bosses, while praying that their project doesn't get terminated.

In my experience this seems to be an issue unique to enormous corporations. When I used to work at small / medium-sized companies this never happened.