This is a recipe for disaster the first time you break something. Getting a yes or a no indicates that your boss is aware of it.
When you’re in the hot seat, and someone asks “Who approved this?”, the truthful answer is that no one approved it.
When you’re in the hot seat, and someone asks “Who approved this?”, the truthful answer is that no one approved it.
I think it's more than just that - upthread I posted that I used this technique for over a decade against a difficult party.
This approach is, briefly, for CYA: It's for when you are in the following situation:
You have to do something and will be punished if you don't, but a stakeholder is being difficult and/or hostile. They can delay you or outright sabotage you just by silence and/or bike-shedding.
If your boss 1. tells you that something needs to be done, 2. refuses to approve any plans, then you just don't do it - in that case it's on them to direct the work in a way that it gets done.
Of course, then you create a bottleneck; if you write a MR but nobody reviews it in a timely fashion, nothing happens. But this is where you have to make agreements, and probably on a management level (= team lead, doesn't need to be heavier) about e.g. acknowledging and reviewing within a certain time period.
If you communicate well that an action is necessary for the outcome you are responsible for, that’s enough. Obviously with notice, and with a genuine effort to get acknowledgement, but ultimately it’s not about what you’re allowed to do, it’s about what you’re expected to achieve.
Now, if you’re wrong, or capricious, or disingenuous… well all bets are off. But done responsibly this is a completely appropriate and defensible approach.