Well of course you can. But that sounds like a less powerful position. Being able to refactor a scope that can fit into a sprint without communicating it is (should be) like a non issue. If you’re manager cares, that’s too bad and sad. Personally no where I’ve worked has this been unacceptable or questionable. Hoping that’s the norm, but maybe not.

I think the more interesting scenario is large tech debts that take real time, like the change itself is weeks, or months. These need to be justified and planned and coordinated with managers.