How would a project manager operate in the flat Valve environment? What are two ways this compares to a project manager in afunctional structure? How does it compare to a project manger in a matrix structure (give 2 examples), and a projectized structure (give 2 examples)?

Valve Handbook for New Employees

"Your First Day

So you've gone through the interview process, you've signed the contracts, and you're finally here at Valve. Congratulations, and welcome. Valve has an incredibly unique way of doing things that will make this the greatest professional experience of your life, but it can take some getting used to. This book was written by people who've been where you are now, and who want to make your first few months here as easy as possible.

Valve Facts That Matter

Valve is self-funded. We haven't ever brought in outside financing. Since our earliest days this has been incredibly important in providing freedom to shape the company and its business practices.

Valve owns its intellectual property. This is far from the norm, in our industry or at most entertainment contentproducing companies. We didn't always own it all. But thanks to some legal wrangling with our first publisher after Half-Life shipped, we now do. This has freed us to make our own decisions about our products. Valve is more than a game company. We started our existence as a pretty traditional game company. And we're still one, but with a hugely expanded focus. Which is great, because we get to make better games as a result, and we've also been able to diversify. We're an entertainment company. A software company. A platform company. But mostly, a company full of passionate people who love the products we create.

Welcome to Flatland

Hierarchy is great for maintaining predictability and repeatability. It simplifies planning and makes it easier to control a large group of people from the top down, which is why military organizations rely on it so heavily. But when you're an entertainment company that's spent the last decade going out of its way to recruit the most intelligent, innovative, talented people on Earth, telling them to sit at a desk and do what they're told obliterates 99 percent of their value. We want innovators, and that

means maintaining an environment where they'll flourish. That's why Valve is flat. It's our shorthand way of saying that we don't have any management, and nobody "reports to" anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isn't your manager. This company is yours to steertoward opportunities and away from risks. You have the power to green-light projects. You have the power to

ship products.

A flat structure removes every organizational barrier between your work and the customer enjoying that work. Every company will tell you that "the customer is boss," but here that statement has weight. There's no red tape stopping you from figuring out for yourself what our customers want, and then giving it to them. If you're thinking to yourself, "Wow, that sounds like a lot of responsibility," you're right. And that's why hiring is the single most important thing you will ever do Valve (see "Hiring ," on page 43). Any time you interview a potential hire, you need to ask yourself not only if they're talented or collaborative but also if they're capable of literally running this company, because they will be.

Why does your desk have wheels? Think of those wheels as a symbolic reminder that you should always be considering where you could move yourself to be more valuable. But also think of those wheels as literal wheels, because that's what they are, and you'll be able to actually move your desk with them.

You'll notice people moving frequently; often whole teams will move their desks to be closer to each other. There is no organizational structure keeping you from being in close proximity to the people who you'd help or be helped by most.

The fact that everyone is always moving around within the company makes people hard to find. That's why we have http://usercheck it out. We know where you are based on where your machine is plugged in, so use this site to see a map of where everyone is right now.

Your First Month

So you've decided where you put your desk. You know here the coffee machine is. You're even pretty sure you know what that one guy's name is. You're not freaking out anymore. In fact, you're ready to show up to work this morning, sharpen those pencils, turn on your computer, and then what?

This next section walks you through figuring out what to work on. You'll learn about how projects work, how cabals work, and how products get out the door at Valve.

What to Work On

Why do I need to pick my own projects?

We've heard that other companies have people allocate a percentage of their time to self-directed projects. At Valve, that percentage is 100.

Since Valve is flat, people don't join projects because they're told to. Instead, you'll decide what to work on after asking yourself the right questions (more on that later). Employees vote on projects with their feet (or desk wheels). Strong projects are ones in which people can see demonstrated value; they staff up easily. This means there are any number of internal recruiting efforts constantly under way.

If you're working here, that means you're good at your job. People are going to want you to work with them on their projects, and they'll try hard to get you to do so. But the decision is going to be up to you. (In fact, at times you're going to wish for the luxury of having just one person telling you what they think you should do, rather than hundreds.)

But how do I decide which things to work on?

Deciding what to work on can be the hardest part of your job at Valve. This is because, as you've found out by now, you were not hired to fill a specific job description. You were hired to constantly be looking around for the most valuable work you could be doing. At the end of a project, you may end up well outside what you thought was your core area of expertise.

There's no rule book for choosing a project or task at Valve. But it's useful to answer questions like these:

Of all the projects currently under way, what's the most valuable thing I can be working on?

Which project will have the highest direct impact on our customers? How much will the work I ship

benefit them?

Is Valve not doing something that it should be doing?

What's interesting? What's rewarding? What leverages my individual strengths the most?

How do I find out what projects are under way?

There are lists of stuff, like current projects, but by far the best way to find out is to ask people. Anyone, really. When you do, you'll find out what's going on around the company and your peers will also find out about you. Lots of people at Valve want and need to know what you care about, what you're good at, what you're worried about, what you've got experience with, and so on. And the way

to get the word out is to start telling people all of those things. So, while you're getting the lay of the land by learning about projects, you're also broadcasting your own status to a relevant group of people.

Got an idea for how Valve could change how we internally broadcast project/company status? Great. Do it. In the meantime, the chair next to anyone's desk is always open, so plant yourself in it often.

Short-term vs. long-term goals

Because we all are responsible for prioritizing our own work, and because we are conscientious and anxious to be valuable, as individuals we tend to gravitate toward projects that have a high, measurable, and predictable return for the company. So when there's a clear opportunity on the

table to succeed at a near-term business goal with a clear return, we all want to take it. And, when we're faced with a problem or a threat, and it's one with a clear cost, it's hard not to address it immediately.

This sounds like a good thing, and it often is, but it has

some downsides that are worth keeping in mind. Specifically,

if we're not careful, these traits can cause us to race

back and forth between short-term opportunities and

threats, being responsive rather than proactive.

So our lack of a traditional structure comes with an

important responsibility. It's up to all of us to spend effort

focusing on what we think the long-term goals of the company

should be.

Someone told me to (or not to) work on X. And

they've been here a long time!

Well, the correct response to this is to keep thinking about

whether or not your colleagues are right. Broaden the

conversation. Hold on to your goals if you're convinced

they're correct. Check your assumptions. Pull more people

in. Listen. Don't believe that anyone holds authority over

the decision you're trying to make. They don't; but they

probably have valuable experience to draw from, or information/

data that you don't have, or insight that's new.

When considering the outcome, don't believe that anyone

but you is the "stakeholder". You're it. And Valve's customers

are who you're serving. Do what's right for them.

There are lots of stories about how Gabe has made important decisions

by himself, e.g., hiring the whole Portal 1 team on the spot after only

half of a meeting. Although there are examples, like that one, where

this kind of decision making has been successful, it's not the norm for

Valve. If it were, we'd be only as smart as Gabe or management types,

and they'd make our important decisions for us. Gabe is the first to say

that he can't be right nearly often enough for us to operate that way.

His decisions and requests are subject to just as much scrutiny and

skepticism as anyone else's. (So if he tells you to put a favorite custom

knife design into Counter-Strike, you can just say no.)

Whatever group you're in, whether you're building Steam

servers, translating support articles, or making the tenthousandth

hat for Team Fortress 2, this applies to you. It's

crucial that you believe it, so we'll repeat it a few more

times in this book.

What about all the things that I'm not getting done?

It's natural in this kind of environment to constantly feel

like you're failing because for every one task you decide

to work on, there will be dozens that aren't getting your

attention. Trust us, this is normal. Nobody expects you

to devote time to every opportunity that comes your way.

Instead, we want you to learn how to choose the most

important work to do.

How does Valve decide what to work on?

The same way we make other decisions: by waiting for

someone to decide that it's the right thing to do, and then

letting them recruit other people to work on it with them.

We believe in each other to make these decisions, and this

faith has proven to be well-founded over and over again.

But rather than simply trusting each other to just be

smart, we also constantly test our own decisions. Whenever

we move into unknown territory, our findings defy our own

predictions far more often than we would like to admit.

We've found it vitally important to, whenever possible,

not operate by using assumptions, unproven theories, or

folk wisdom.

This kind of testing takes place across our business, from

game development to hiring, to selling games on Steam.

Luckily, Steam is a fantastic platform for business learning.

It exists to be an entertainment/service platform for

our customers, and as such it also is a conduit for constant

communication between us and them.

Accepted truisms about sales, marketing, regionality, seasonality,

the Internet, purchasing behavior, game design,

economics, and recruiting, etc., have proven wrong surprisingly

often. So we have learned that when we take nearly

any action, it's best to do so in a way that we can measure,

predict outcomes, and analyze results.

Recruiting can be a difficult process to instrument and

measure. Although we have always tried to be highly rational

about how we hire people, we've found much room

for improvement in our approach over the years. We have

made significant strides toward bringing more predictability,

measurement, and analysis to recruiting. A process

that many assume must be treated only as a "soft" art

because it has to do with humans, personalities, language,

and nuance, actually has ample room for a healthy dose

of science. We're not turning the whole thing over to

robots just yet though(see "Hiring ," on page 43).

Can I be included the next time Valve is deciding X?

Yes. There's no secret decision-making cabal. No matter

what project, you're already invited. All you have to do is

either (1) Start working on it, or (2) Start talking to all the

people who you think might be working on it already and

find out how to best be valuable. You will be welcomed

there is no approval process or red tape involved. Quite the

oppositeit's your job to insert yourself wherever you think

you should be."

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