[atom_arranger]

I usually tend to do the refactoring without asking permission. Just spend 20% of my time on it, get it done, definitely pays off. I tend to be pretty productive generally and with this refactoring I'm not doing something like saying "give me a week to refactor from X to Y", instead I just do a little bit every day or two, so I've never had much problem with this from management.

If you're delivering features quickly it shouldn't matter if you spend some of your time making sure you'll be able to continue doing so in the future.

[zomgwat]

Exactly this. I also don’t ask permission because I consider this type of refactoring an implicit and fundamental responsibility.