Originally Posted by Stas87

I'm also an engineer and I've come to find that these types of meetings are pointless and are pretty much just ways to make the day go faster. My strategy has become to let the PMs and upper management talk themselves out. Once they're done justifying their existence I explain the problem/solution/etc in layman's terms so they can understand. When all else fails, I throw in some technical jargon to make sound like they're in over their heads. That usually makes them leave me alone long enough to do my work.