I've been apart of numerous projects, as a UX professional, where the project is led by the tech team, and one big fault in all of this, is that the tech leads believe they know everything about UX practices and start saying, "I do it this way, therefore..."
That's where it all begins...
I also had a meeting where a tech lead says,"we should do it this way because personally I think..."
The moment that phrase is said, without even finishing the sentence, we stop her and say, "listen, it's not about personal preference, it's about the data." Personal preference varies, but the data never lies.
Programmers need to start realizing that there is more to an application than it's bare minimum functionality. I come across this problem now where I have to fight against horrible UX experiences because either the programmers think it's a great idea or the higher ups believe it's a better idea.
What we need to do as UX professionals (which is what I'm doing now) is show them that it works so they would finally just listen to what we have to say by doing usability tests or actually having the research to prove it. Once you gain a reputation of being a good UX guy (even though you are, you just have to prove it), then they will finally understand that you know what you're talking about.
It's annoying, I know, but you have to go through it at a place that knows little to nothing about UX.