This leads to the obvious conclusion that effective engineering in large organisations is about being able to talk to the political caste and identify who needs

This leads to the obvious conclusion that effective engineering in large organisations is about being able to talk to the political caste and identify who needs to be brought on-side. If someone told the boss the equipment is good for 10 years, maybe you can work with them to come up with new requirements the old equipment can’t meet, and let them present those requirements to the boss, so they have a reason to support instead of opposing you. The alternative to this sort of political shenanigans is to be ineffective, or to work in a small enough company that you don’t need to.