[EricH]

It's a good idea, if managed properly.

That said, by the sound of it, it's a small group of students taking over the entire decision-making process of the team. That's not proper management, in this case.

I would say this: If there is going to be a council, council decisions need to be discussed with the entire team, and kept to emergency use only (i.e., we have a 3-way tie on designs and it's Week 3, which do we eliminate/select, or "Hey, so-and-so wants a demo in two days, can we do this?"). Then the role of the council needs to be (repeat, needs to be) written down in a team handbook or other similar document.

I'm going to give a little idea from a team I'm on right now: we have 5 departments which take care of different areas. Each has an officer; one officer is designated as the team lead. But, all 5 officers meet as officers on a regular basis to coordinate what's going on and see who needs to get their act together this time; anything discussed at that meeting that is deemed appropriate is discussed at the normal team meeting(s) for the week. The Executive Council (as it's officially known) is specifically called for in the team constitution. The only reason the EC would make a decision without going through the appropriate team area would be extreme urgency.

So, proper management of this "Jedi Knight Council" would be that it doesn't make decisions itself save in urgent situations or to break a tie, but functions as an advisory board to get the team to make the decision. It could also be used to discuss options so that the team can make an informed decision.