The guys who worked this way, stayed in the company and were very successful for years. Those who complained about it and left weren't really doing a great job in the first place.

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.

::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::

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.

But then again .. maybe truly competent developers don't get such anxiety in the first place, and if they do need to 'figure something out' in an open, shoulder-surfing environment, can reliably depend on their colleagues to assist rather than "judge them for the secret difficulties they are having"?

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 ..

> maybe truly competent developers don't get such anxiety in the first place

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.

I'm telling you my experience - an open environment that encourages shoulder-surfing and interaction with ones workspace environment has, in my experience, been more productive and a happier place to work than one where everyone hides their screens and don't interact 'because it gives them anxiety'. I, for sure, would not want to work in such a milquetoast environment.

Why is your experience, which you are clearly already primed to perceive in the matter that fits your preconceived conclusions, worth anything?

I for one am ‘not afraid’ of anything, I just find open offices incredibly unproductive and this sounds like an extreme form of it.

What? Competent can't have mental health issues such as anxiety?

Competent people don't let mental health issues get in the way of getting stuff done and sharing ones work with ones colleagues...

Maybe they have a health issue that shoulder surfing triggers? Maybe they weren't very good because you were shoulder surfing constantly. Maybe they are human and have the basic evolved human instinctual drive to not have a stranger/semi stranger constantly behind their back doing who knows what, plotting their downfall likely.