> As in, if you write a 5 line perl script that makes you significantly more productive, do not share it as you will be asked time and time again why you wasted your time on something outside of your job description.
This sounds like something I'd see in a Dilbert comic. Do you mind sharing what industry you work in? Perhaps you saw this in old-fashioned industries like banking or insurance? Have you experienced this in tech?
This specific story was a friend working for a large defense contractor. I've never worked directly for a defense contractor, but know enough people that have that I should note that culture varies greatly from site to site; different sites of very large companies might as well be different companies (and in many cases were different companies before being purchased).
That sort of thing also varies with perceived team performance. If your team is perceived by upper mid-management (or higher) as being "good" then individuals on the team have more freedom. If your team is perceived as being "not good" then every deviation from standard practices is clearly the cause of the poor team performance.
When I see a pain point that looks soluble, I take a crack at it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I get recognized for it, sometimes I don't. One, relatively minor (to me) thing, ended up being a big business win and my manager made sure I got a fat bonus for it. Other things have seemed more like a win for me that nobody but 2 of my peers ended up caring about.
#1 is true to the nth power though. I've seen places where if you do something even one millimeter outside of your silo, it will come up as a negative in your performance review. As in, if you write a 5 line perl script that makes you significantly more productive, do not share it as you will be asked time and time again why you wasted your time on something outside of your job description.
I think something missing for the context of TFA is that the gaming industry tends to be much more deadline focused than other industries. In theory you might be free to "make miscellaneous changes like this" but only if things aren't already behind schedule, and things are always behind schedule.