I think your last sentence is usually the culprit. Person gets a set of contradicting constraints. Person wants to poke at the contradiction before starting the actual work. Person doesn't have the power to just make the call on their own so goes to direct managers, PMs, teammates, or whoever are providing the competing directions causing the issue. Turns out they didn't notice the issue (they never talk) and also turns out they also don't have the power to just make the call.
When I became a manager, I found the same. Managers need to know what's going on broadly (which is doable, takes work, and some managers do) and to not shirk from pointing out misalignments across projects (which is harder, involves stepping on toes such that your project is better but your day longer, and most managers do not do). I don't think I ever struggled with the idea that this was hard, but I've always despised when my managers/PMs wouldn't do their one part and voice it to the next level above.
When I became a manager, I found the same. Managers need to know what's going on broadly (which is doable, takes work, and some managers do) and to not shirk from pointing out misalignments across projects (which is harder, involves stepping on toes such that your project is better but your day longer, and most managers do not do). I don't think I ever struggled with the idea that this was hard, but I've always despised when my managers/PMs wouldn't do their one part and voice it to the next level above.