5 ms·
I'm not sure if this is a problem with the structure as much as it is with Valve specifically because many other organizations and companies have a similar flat
by noobermin 8y ago
I'm not sure if this is a problem with the structure as much as it is with Valve specifically because many other organizations and companies have a similar flatter structure. Moreover, he points out that Valve wasn't really flat, it had a class of managers and a class of developers (producers). That doesn't sound "flat" to me.
- hitekker 8y agoDisregarding the "no true scotsman", have you ever heard of the Dunbar number? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number
- mnm1 8y agoLol. I don't think you understand the fallacy you're referencing at all because it doesn't apply here. The parent is claiming that if a company has managers it doesn't have a flat structure. Not only is this factually correct, it can be proven to be so as the definition of a flat company is one without managers. Of course, by that definition no company with managers is flat, which corresponds to reality.
- Nuzzerino 8y agoReminds me of the film "Office Space", where the protagonist has something like eight managers he answers to. I worked for such a "flat" organization once, and that's how it was. It was not a good thing.
- brodo 8y agoHaving multiple managers to answer to can also be quite good. If they know and respect each other, they will try not to give you too much to do because they don’t want to “steal” time from the other guys. For me this results in having only stuff to do which lies in my area of expertise.
- Matticus_Rex 8y agoIt's flat-ish... but yeah, this is neither something unique to "self-organizing" companies. My company uses Holacracy, and the critiques of Valve simply don't apply.