In this context "you're allowed to" means "this didn't necessarily occur to you as part of the solution space, but it is." For example many programmers have it

In this context "you're allowed to" means "this didn't necessarily occur to you as part of the solution space, but it is." For example many programmers have it in their heads that their only two activities are writing production code and staring at/thinking about log output. Sometimes it's helpful to be reminded that you are "allowed" to write scripts to analyze log output. No one is worried that they will be punished for this. But a surprising number of programmers will stare down a programming-shaped problem and fail to put two and two together.