A chain that utilizes a DPOS design has several layers:
1- The developers that design the code.
2- The block producers (aka witnesses) that propose which code to run on the nodes.
3- The stakeholders that decide which block producers are elected.
Ultimately it is the stakeholders who are responsible. They are the ones who elect the block producers. You can have the best coders and people with the technical know-how to effectively run nodes in a DPOS chain but if they are not elected it means nothiing.