Can Valve's 'Bossless' Company Model Work Elsewhere? 522
glowend writes "I just listened to a fascinating podcast with Valve's economist-in-residence, Yanis Varoufakis, about the unusual structure of the workplace at Valve where there is no hierarchy or bosses. Teams of software designers join spontaneously to create and ship video games without any top-down supervision. Varoufakis discussed the economics of this Hayekian workplace and how it actually functions alongside Steam — a gaming platform created by Valve. I kept wondering: assuming that his description of Valve is accurate, can this model work for other tech companies?"
It must work.. (Score:5, Funny)
Just look at the number of Half-Life games they churn out. I haven't even finished HL6 and HL7 is coming out next week!
Re:But who would build the desks? (Score:5, Funny)
"Welcome to the company! Here is your Allen key."
Re:No (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It must work.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No (Score:4, Funny)
We can start with "Human Resources"
You cant in US. HR is not to help you work more efficient. HR is there to shield corporation from LAWSUITS. They can point a finger and say 'mister X was reprimanded by HR for grabbing women asses and ejaculating into water cooler".
Re:No (Score:5, Funny)
This is a silly example 200/100 = 2x 100/0 = Infinite
This reminds me of a joke I heard.
An accountant and an economist are walking in the park together. As they pass a pond they see a frog. The economist says to the accountant, "I'll pay you $40 to lick that frog." The accountant thinks about it for a moment, agrees to lick the frog, and the economist gives him his $40. As they continue, they see another frog, and the account says to the economist, "I'll pay you $40 to lick that frog." The economist agrees, licks the frog, and gets his $40. The accountant then says, "Well, what was the point of that? Now we've both licked a frog and have nothing to show for it!" The economist replies, "True, but the economy has seen an increase of $80!"
So, after a lot of reading, I've come to the conclusion that economists aren't very rational people.
Re:No (Score:5, Funny)
They each got something from the experience - the entertainment of seeing the other guy lick a frog. And they also owe the government some taxes for the 40 bucks they made.