Perhaps I only notice it more now, but it seems like it exploded after he died and after all those stories of looking at pixels in loupes and making the back of cabinets look good became public.

I imagined that people think that they just need to copy this characteristic and they'll also be successful.

I had a job doing that involved form layout for printed forms that would get used by tens of thousands. My boss could likewise spot things off by a single pixel. At first I was annoyed, but the bigger the audience for your work, the more those details matter. I’d further say this is the polish that should be part of a “one more thing to do” attitude if you want to produce your best output. It’s all context though. Devote attention proportional to the size of the audience.

Oh I’m not opposed to being detailed oriented, I just got the feeling that people started using their imaginary OCD as a flex lately, and that some founders think it’s the secret to success, when it’s actually at most a hygiene factor.

I put a lot of attention to detail myself, but I don’t imagine that this in itself is worth anything. It’s only one out of a multitude of things you need to do and be as a founder, and it’s among the easiest.