While I agree with you, some managers micromanage and freak out for any change that isn't directly related to doing or fixing X. They will reject the change and it becomes painful to keep working like that because they hold it against you. Toxic workplaces exist.
And in a market where developer skills are in incredibly high demand and a new job can be lined up in a couple of weeks, such workplaces should cease to exist due to lack of developers.
To the average hackernews, lucrative tech jobs may grow on trees, but that is not the case for everyone, even those with technical skill. It usually takes me between three and six months to get a new job.
