Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

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Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby Blink on Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:17 am

Interesting (albeit short) article on Wired, where they get the views on Valve's flat management style from an ex-employee:

It is a pseudo-flat structure where, at least in small groups, you're all peers and make decisions together," she said. "But the one thing I found out the hard way is that there is actually a hidden layer of powerful management structure in the company and it felt a lot like high school. There are popular kids that have acquired power in the company, then there's the trouble makers, and everyone in between.


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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby source-maps on Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:49 am

finally some one who points out the downsides of the way they handle things sometimes
good for creativity, bad for productivity
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby Plague on Wed Jul 10, 2013 1:33 pm

I'd be terribly interested in hearing some other employees thoughts on Ellsworth and the hardware division being shutdown in this manner.

I'll need to listen to the podcast later.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby nub on Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:51 pm

The quote "Valve promised me the world, then back stabbed me," makes me think she's somewhat bitter about the whole thing. I mean, it would be kind of hard not to be when the project you were working so hard on was effectively shut down. But still, I'm with Plague on hearing about her as an employee. I guess I'll also have to listen to the podcast.

EDIT: So yeah, she even admits she's a little bitter about it.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby ScarT on Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:08 pm

I'm laughing at how that site links to the Flamehaus pdf instead of the official Valve one :lol:

I'm guessing this is one of the reasons we haven't seen Half-Life 3 yet.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby nub on Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:16 pm

I doubt this incident affected Half-Life 3 at all, considering it was a hardware team that got dismissed. Unless you're thinking similar things are happening within other areas of the company. I hope that's not the case.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby ErikKiller on Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:28 pm

So all the Half-Lifes are -75% on Steam, distraction from this to get people back on the Half-Life bandwagon?
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby source-maps on Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:48 pm

nub wrote:Unless you're thinking similar things are happening within other areas of the company. I hope that's not the case.


the on going content team for l4d doesn't seem to be very motivated ;)
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby Knights on Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:54 pm

Does Valve really have to make games anymore? I mean they got a tf2 hat money pit and Steam... :D After the no show at E3 I'm just going to assume they have a bar too high to set to show off anything these days. Maybe pax... :smt042
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby nub on Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:26 pm

Valve can't really afford to not make Half Life 3. If they ended up dropping the series altogether, then a massive amount of the fan base would crucify them for it. Granted they have tons of money from TF2 and Steam and such and could financially afford it, but they would probably end up being the most hated company in the industry considering just how many people are anticipating the game. I honestly believe that, if it were to happen, they would be worse off than EA currently is as far as reputation goes. Much worse...

And I want to believe the random Steam sale on the Half-Life series means something, but there's been so many god damn things that looked like "signs" of an upcoming announcement that turned out to be total coincidence or Valve just trolling the community, so trying to get my hopes up is a complete waste of time. But I definitely agree that Valve REALLY needs to say something that will calm the masses and put their minds at ease regarding the game. The hype is just getting to the point of Duke Nukem Forever, and if Half Life 3 ends up being a repeat in history I might just lose all my faith in Valve as game developers.


But anyway, here's to hoping we get something at PAX Prime later this year. It's in Seattle so it wouldn't be a huge endeavor for Valve to attend and actually present something. I won't hold my breath though.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby srredfire on Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:17 am

I think Half-Life 2 is on sale because they couldn't find anyone else really for mid-week madness since the Summer Sale starts tomorrow.
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Re: Valve's flat management structure 'like high school'

Postby Epifire on Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:07 am

Well what if Valve was just waiting till Source 2 was done, when they could also have full support with Oculus Rift, along with their fancy Steam Box? It doesn't even have to be in extreme detail but just telling people what's getting worked on would be nice for a change.
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