Sure, in a perfect world, programmers wouldn't have to make decisions outside their sandbox. But humans get hired to be more than robots, and the same goes for

Sure, in a perfect world, programmers wouldn't have to make decisions outside their sandbox. But humans get hired to be more than robots, and the same goes for everyone, in every job, ever. That's why you hear cliches about "above and beyond", "extra mile", etc. etc. so much that you probably don't hear them anymore. And if you are good at operating outside your sandbox when you need to, you should get a gold star (and think about if you want to look for more responsibility). If you're not, your manager should try to baby-proof that corner. This is also no different than every other job, ever.