I'm at a rather large company and management doesn't understand enough about what they're doing to know exactly what provides value and what doesn't, much less who is providing that value. I'm guessing once a company reaches a certain size, a lot of that becomes illegible.

I prefer to be direct and as clear as possible, but that hasn't been what's gotten me results. I watched how others (more senior engineers) were able to influence decisions and found that they were some of the best bullshit artists I've ever seen. So I adapted how I communicated as much as possible without compromising my ethics. I'm leaving my company, hopefully to join a company more like yours.

Patrick's advice hit pretty close to home for me.