Then throw your hands in the air and say that whatever business problem your company is trying to solve, well, they'll just have to deal with it? No. Autonomy

Then throw your hands in the air and say that whatever business problem your company is trying to solve, well, they'll just have to deal with it? No. Autonomy here is figuring out what you can figure out. Figure out what you can't figure out. Use whatever resources (people, code, whatever) are available to you, and make the best decision for your company. It's not letting roadblocks get in the way. And if, after every avenue has been explored and there still is not an answer, then having the experience to produce an actual report demonstrating the code is too complex to reasonably make the required changes, present it to executives, and expect to be taken seriously. It will contain details of your investigations and alternatives to explore. Autonomous here means you're not dead when something seems intractable. You keep pushing.