> I know for sure that it's possible to be highly productive at a large company with a lot of bureaucracy -- but I also know for sure that new employees who try

> I know for sure that it's possible to be highly productive at a large company with a lot of bureaucracy -- but I also know for sure that new employees who try to bypass process and question the priorities of other teams, before they learn the ropes and build credibility and trust with other people, do not succeed. The problem is that "learning the ropes" in a big org is often just an interminable slog of suffering from lack of information, dead-end rabbit-holes, and dealing with assholes. One is often forced to choose between being a doormat or being offensively aggressive with little ground in between. In the context of an acquisition, especially, staff on both sides will be in fear of losing their jobs, status, or comfort-zone. There will automatically be barriers put up against change whether folks are conscious of it or not. The OP just needs to talk to a human being. It's his responsibility to reach out and find one. In my experience, the thing about big-company process is that YOU HAVE TO go around it to communicate. You have to talk things out with the RIGHT people in advance, come up with a plan in cooperation with them, have them collaborate by getting things warmed up on their side. After all that the stupid meetings and "approvals" are just formalities. In fact, you can tell when this is the case when project decisions are handled with almost parliamentary procedures. There's no room for discussion and thinking things through in such meetings-- everything, EVERYTHING, has to be worked out in advance through side-channels.