Valve, the company behind Steam, relies on a special work model and is very successful with it. But even Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve, says: This is not for everyone.
Valve was founded in 1996 near Washington. Thus, the company has been around for 28 years now.
For years, the company has relied on a special work model known in the business world as “flat hierarchy”.
Teams and projects emerge from ideas around which employees group
When you enter Valve’s offices, you find neither a list of tasks nor a supervisor giving you instructions. According to Valve’s employee handbook, employees are encouraged to be interested in the ideas and projects of other teams and to join the one they like best or start their own project.
If a specific project or idea arises, these groups initially have a leader. But even this role is very loosely defined and often only exists until someone else swaps with them because they prefer to work directly on their project.
Therefore, there is no real boss in any department; much is done or developed independently. Many of these departments also dissolve quickly if the idea is not recognized as meaningful.
What does Newell say about it? The colleagues from 3Djuegos.com report that Gabe Newell admits that Valve’s work model is by no means suitable for everyone. Moreover, when hiring staff, care is taken to ensure that new employees are flexible enough to shine in multiple areas.
This is also the reason why the employees of games at Valve, such as in Portal 2, are listed in alphabetical order, without indication of the team they belong to or the contribution they made to the development. Because it can happen that an employee has supported development in multiple areas.
More about Gabe Newell: Steam boss Gabe Newell does not use WASD, but much prefers ESDF. But what is that anyway and why is this key combination so popular? More about this directly on MeinMMO: Gabe Newell doesn’t like WASD, much prefers a different combination for his PC games
