This was pretty typical at Microsoft too. Many groups (Windows, Office, Exchange, etc) had a leadership group hold a regular "war room" type meeting at which m

This was pretty typical at Microsoft too. Many groups (Windows, Office, Exchange, etc) had a leadership group hold a regular "war room" type meeting at which major decisions were made. From 10 to 30 participants was common at these (usually weekly) meetings. It's a sign of bureaucracy, not trusting important decisions to individual contributors, and an ass-covering vehicle to remove blame when mistakes are made. Some of it reflects a needed amount of "care" - but it can easily lead to bad organizational dynamics.