Are you sure this isn't because you've just forced out productive devs who aren't insane and tolerate this?
You know... Like this:
> those guys don't last long in an environment where everyones work is equally open for shoulder-surfing
And, there really is nothing wrong with this policy of shoulder-surfing - unless you have things you need to hide about the way you work.
Ask yourself: what's so scary about sharing your work this way with your colleagues in a professional environment? There aren't any productive answers to this question .. only emotional ones.
Because that can introduce anxiety and second guessing in even the most self assured person. Which is good from time to time, but not when you're trying to figure something out.
Unless you've experienced such an open environment, I wouldn't imagine you'd understand the advantages of not working in a state of secrecy. After all, the modern tech work place is an aggressive and hostile, often very competitive environment, right?
Well this open-screen policy puts a stop to that hostility and competitiveness at a group policy level, and as a result: folks are less competitive and more cooperative. This manifests in a much better group dynamic, and higher levels of productivity occur.
Try it! Or, if you find yourself resisting the idea, take some time to reflect what, exactly, this represents that you are afraid of ..
That's a big maybe to base these things on, and most available data seems to indicate that ability and confidence don't really correlate all that well, and even incredibly successful people struggle with mental health issues.
We don't live in some kind of a fair world where competent people are rewarded with happiness and confidence, and incompetent ones are made anxious. A casual perusal of history makes this instantly obvious.
> if you find yourself resisting the idea, take some time to reflect what, exactly, this represents that you are afraid of
Seems like you have already made up your mind and are just seeing what you want to see.
The statements you make here are not falsifiable and seem to be is-ought and wish fulfillment. They don't seem to be based on anything actually real.
Respect, equalised this way, means we don't care if one of us is doing something non-work related on their system - its accepted, and nobody cares. Its just so much more productive to be able to understand, at a glance, what ones colleagues are up to without them having to worry about having 'privacy issues' in a workplace where really, the work isn't private.
I’d also be interested in my own reaction and whether I’d adjust to that kind of workplace.
Which is not to say that members of the team can't have privacy if they really need/want it - just that its expected that they work in a way that keeps others informed about what they're up to and how things are progressing.
Its not stressful - that is the point. Nobody has to hide anything because the expectation is that there is nothing to hide - or, if there is something you need to hide (i.e. you have self-doubt about your own competence and don't want to share that doubt with your colleagues), this is supplanted by the expectation that people will help each other if they notice a problem-solving session going on too long.
It results, thus, in less stress in the environment, more cooperation/collaboration and a more open level of communication among the team members - and we are more productive as a result of it. Also, we help each other: we don't criticise or degrade someone whose work is inaccessible.
The funny thing is I work in an open place and really don't care if people see me reading reddit or hn or whatever else on my screen and I happen to not be focused on a task. That said, I got startled when a tour group walked by and closed my browser one day. That was weird.
This has its detractors - sure, unless you've worked this way, you might find it intrusive that any dev can shoulder-surf at any time - but after a few days it rapidly becomes clear that such a configuration encourages developer participation, and more particularly: honesty about what is going on.
Too many times, dev teams I've managed have been tripped up by the one guy who doesn't like to share anything and rather prefers to work privately without any oversight - well, those guys don't last long in an environment where everyones work is equally open for shoulder-surfing. And I have found, anecdotally, that the most productive devs really don't care if you shoulder-surf - and in fact those that openly invite it, are a net positive effect on the teams own morale. People really learn a lot faster, and are seemingly more motivated to share their work, when the cubicles are set up for observation and not privacy.
Just an anecdote, but I've seen this, effectively, in action over 3 decades now and its just something I insist is a great way to build a developer team. Those that resist it, usually don't have good reasons to do so, either ..