Clearly you have never worked in a situation with a looming deadline.
I've made my living writing code for the last 12 years. How likely do you really think that is?
There's a deep streak of passivity among a lot of programmers. That's part of why they (we) tend to be downtrodden. The belief that one must do shoddy work unless "given the go-ahead" to do good work is as much a part of the problem as anything else.
Exactly, stop seeking permission and just do good work all the time. It takes how long it takes and those people making up deadlines will be forced to adjust to the speed at which you work. They don't know whether you're doing it right or wrong or clean or ugly, they don't know what the fuck you do anyway, so do it how you like to please yourself.
I've made my living writing code for the last 12 years. How likely do you really think that is?
There's a deep streak of passivity among a lot of programmers. That's part of why they (we) tend to be downtrodden. The belief that one must do shoddy work unless "given the go-ahead" to do good work is as much a part of the problem as anything else.