A lot of (read:all) project management literature and methodology focuses on knowing your budget and deadlines for when projects need to be completed and how much they should cost.
At my workplace, small family-owned construction business, ownership takes a /very/ active hand in almost everything that goes on, including quoting jobs and estimating time requirements.
Their approach to budget and deadlines has always seemed to be (on the surface) "ever how much we need to spend" and "as long as it takes". However, in practice, this is actually "as little as possible" and "as soon as possible".
Deadlines and budgets are guarded/invisible except to finance and ownership. The only time that project personnel are made aware of spending and time requirements are when something is deemed "costing too much" and "taking too long", and "[our department] isn't making any money".
All attempts to talk with management/ownership about sharing budget and time constraints (for any number of PM reasons) are met with "just keep doing what you're doing", "you don't really need to know that", and "that's what I do".
I'm not sure if this is a workplace issue, or if there is something I'm not getting PM wise (relatively new to PM), or if this is just how small business works.
So my question: how can I
A. a work around not having crucial information, or
B. explain to my boss that in order to do my job properly, I need that crucial information?
(if this should be moved to workplace SE, please let me know).