[ThrustVectoring]

>Your boss doesn't care how much effort it took you to do that thing, only that it got done.

Err, that's not quite true, since your boss is an agent of the company and not the company itself. Your boss has to look good to his boss and "manage up", and looking like you're putting in effort is important for that.

[Balgair]

Yeah, many open-plan/cubicle filled places have moved past the product and towards visible effort. I can't count how many stories I've read on HN about how the quiet hard working coder was passed over for a raise in favor of the dumb but verbose coder. Heck, even the founders just need to look good, as is also a common complaint on HN about companies that are all jazz and no drums.