Isn't that for the CEO to decide, whether or not he needs permission? “We’re disruptors! Discovery is going to slow us down. We need to move quickly!” sounds like a pretty clear strategy statement. And in turn it's for the board to decide whether their CEO is making reckless decisions and needs to be fired for putting the entire company at risk.

I realise that if you're dealing with incompetent and dangerous retards as bosses you have to sneak sound practice in under the radar. I'm sure that's how things like version control and automated testing made it into many software organisations. But it needs to be realised that this is an extremely toxic work environment and shouldn't be brushed off as easily as saying "you don't need permission".