[Glyptodon]

I don't disagree with you, but I also think there are situations where (particularly if you aren't privy to the big picture) it's a good idea to have some kind of sounding board to run things off of before diving/jumping in, though that may be a bit tangential to the point at hand.

Maybe more to the point, I don't think my behavior at the time was an attempt at pushing the risk up the chain as much as it was a manifestation of fear/anxiety that I'd somehow be outside of company expectations/norms or would end up spending a bunch of time working around/fixing something that had already been solved in a way that I, as a newer employee, just didn't know about.