>I found that the more I delivered and the happier I made senior people, the more I could ignore the rules and process and friction and get stuff done.

Yeah, I agree with this. My strategy has been to figure out what my boss wants to do, figure out what I want to do, and figure out what my job duties actually are. Then focus on the intersection of the first two and doing the minimal work necessary for the third. This means trying to get around process for your boss's pet project or to work on what you want while making your internal customers go through as many hoops as your organizational structure allows when they want you to do your job duties.

This probably comes off a bit cynical and I do have some pride in doing a good job, but this is kind of my basic corporate strategy.