[rockostrich]

> Some people (especially people not using their first language) can find working in public stressful

Which is fine coming in, but the culture should be one that reassures these folks that public forums in the company are safe regardless of their proficiency with the main language.

Half of the people I work with speak English as a 2nd language (most are very proficient since they're mostly French-Canadian but there are plenty that make a bunch of grammar/spelling mistakes). That's never been the reason why folks try to use private channels to discuss work. The main reason I've seen is because people think it's more efficient to reach out directly to people. I've seen it a bunch with product managers and engineering managers that are new to the company and not used to a culture of trying to work out in the open.

[amrocha]

On the opposite spectrum there's the experience I had at a Japanese company as a fluent but not native person. All communication happened in public, and I was made fun of whenever I had to ask clarifying questions. The entire team would see this and got the impression that I was hard to work with since asking questions can be seen as rude in Japanese, and the Japanese staff would understand things the first time around.

So you know, both cases happen.

[rockostrich]

I think you just proved my point? I said it's a culture thing and you gave an example of terrible work culture.

[amrocha]

I wasn't disagreeing with you. I agree culture is the most important factor regardless. Maybe doing work in the open can exacerbate a toxic culture, but idk it was just one experience.

[doctor_eval]

If people find a particular way of working stressful then it doesn’t matter what causes the stress. It was just an example. Some people are on the ASD spectrum, some are extroverts, some introverts. Some might have other difficulties, big problems at home.

But there is room in the world for more than one way of doing work. There are drawbacks to doing everything in public just as there are drawbacks to doing everything in private. If you care about getting the most out of the individuals in your team then finding the right balance is hard, and there is no one solution that will work in all cases.