From iPhoneDevelopment by Jeff LaMarche:
Third rule: insulate your team from corporate silliness to the fullest extent of your power. Nothing will make these people leave your employ faster than making them sit in unproductive, boring meetings that don’t directly further the project. The kind of person you want, wants to be sitting in front of a Mac furiously coding away. Anything you make them do that’s not that, is counterproductive and damaging to your project.
Seems obvious.