Unless the court specifically orders otherwise, the parties may by written stipulation signed by all parties or counsel (1) provide that depositions may be taken before any person, at any time or place, upon any notice, and in any manner, and when so taken may be used like other depositions, and (2) modify the procedures provided by these rules for other methods of discovery.
Tenn. R. Civ. P. 29
Advisory Commission Comments [1993].
The amendment eliminates the prohibition on stipulated time extensions absent court approval for interrogatory answers, production of documents and things, and responses to requests for admission. The court can “specifically order otherwise.”