The flip side of this is that "management hell" of large companies beats it into you that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Official channels are the path of most resistance.
Programmer: "Hey, we could really use a wiki/hudson server/maven repository/whatever to ease the pain on some of this stuff, can we get a box stood up?"
Manager: "The sysadmins are already overextended, I'll look into it, but don't hold your breath"
12 months later: Still no tool.
You only play that game once or twice before you just stop asking and just start doing, or you brush up your resume and move on.
Programmer: "Hey, we could really use a wiki/hudson server/maven repository/whatever to ease the pain on some of this stuff, can we get a box stood up?"
Manager: "The sysadmins are already overextended, I'll look into it, but don't hold your breath"
12 months later: Still no tool.
You only play that game once or twice before you just stop asking and just start doing, or you brush up your resume and move on.