Quit your job if you can. The real problem is that you don't trust the CTOs judgement and you're looking for shortcuts to communicate a very simple concept. I'm

Quit your job if you can. The real problem is that you don't trust the CTOs judgement and you're looking for shortcuts to communicate a very simple concept. I'm not a programmer but I got your issue with the project after reading the three paragraphs you posted above. If you can't turn the above text into an conversation of very short PowerPoint deck you're "shouting at the winds". By the way your lack of respect may not show up now, but as you work on the project and resent it — that will show up over time (and if nothing else make you depressed). By the way as a point of pride if I can't explain the "business why" of doing something wrong to a programmer then I've failed as a manager. Because if my programmer has any pride in his/her craftsmanship they'll resent me through out the project and self sabotage.