The installation procedure should be split into tasks which have to be executed by cluster admin and those that can be executed by namespace admins

The background for why it works this way today is that the focus has been on less experienced OpenShift users who are more concerned with get OpenShift out of our way/minimize the time I spend thinking about OpenShift. This year we are transitioning to focus on the growing number of customer with existing OpenShift policies, processes, etc, and working out how we make a MAS install that we deliver able to not just be simple enough for an OpenShift novice, but also has sufficient flexibility to cater to more advanced users who have scenarios like what you describe with different personas needing to perform different parts of the MAS install. In these cases we accept that we must support a way to allow multi-phase, multi-persona driven installations, and the feedback and input from Ford and other customers is being used to try to build a solution that would be flexible enough to support a wide range of different views on where the boundaries between personas exists.

At present there is no ETA on delivering anything in this area, but it's something we are researching and investigating, and understand that the simple model of "just be cluster admin" is not suitable for all customers. What we are looking to do in the medium term is provide clear documentation about the roles that are needed to use the MAS CLI, and run our install, update, upgrade, uninstall pipelines etc, as this is something that has been directly requested and obviously will form a key part of delivering a future role-aware automation engine.