There's a difference between "I flew a visual approach referencing this thing in the database v. I accepted a clearance to fly the Harbor Visual to blah blah blah.". Doing it because it's going to be approved soon when it's not approved is kind of a bad example to bring out. You're intentionally breaking a rule for convenience in this scenario.

The fuel one is a little better, I think. You're using PIC authority to act in the interests of safety, and those alternates are for planning purposes. So there's a discussion about which airports you could have gone to and why you chose to go to B, but that's not a bad necessarily a bad thing. Your intent is compliance and safety in this scenario.

Edit: I quoted the wrong person.