You ask yourself if Agile, pair programming, open plan office and all the other fads of the day may have to do with the economic environment. Back in the day, when the economy wasn't excessively financialized, a company had to develop a product and compete successfully in the market. So management did what it took and treated its developers well. But nowadays, it's all about raising yet another round of funding and selling to an investor, consequently, management subscribes to every idiotic management fad in fashion because that's what investors look out for and what helps the company to stick around for yet a year more. No product development required.

Their idea of a great hacker comes from movies such as Swordfish