I don’t need micro-management

I’m often stuck in a very unpleasent situation where I have to deal with people who have no time to devote to the ‘small’ things at work. However my working life is about dealing with such things. In order to do my job and process these things I need to know what’s expected and ask questions about all the gaps but I constantly feel that this makes me come across as someone who needs micro-management and someone who cannot think for themselves. A very tricky situation. Who’d be a project manager. Sigh.