The truth is, on a lot of teams, disagreeing with the boss or a senior or lead developer can have bad, often job-ending consequences. So team members will try to find "technicalities" in the rules that let them avoid that conflict. These questions can be symptoms of that problem. So when I'm coaching teams or doing Q&A, folks often ask about asking permission to change tasks, or what to do when someone has an idea that the team—or, more likely, the boss—will disagree with, they're worried that disagreement can cause problems, conflict, and get them fired.