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A lovely interview with Gabe Newell, touching on their hiring processes, and studio management: http://www.develop-online.net/features/1192/Gabe-Newell-on-Valve

by v21 15y ago

A lovely interview with Gabe Newell, touching on their hiring processes, and studio management: http://www.develop-online.net/features/1192/Gabe-Newell-on-Valve http://www.develop-online.net/features/1192/Gabe-Newell-on-V... I think what it comes down to, is if you're Valve, you get to have your cake and eat it too. You get to hire the best, and they're all increbibly motivated to make the things you're making. "I think it’s obvious, everybody here could get a job in ten minutes. People like [someone walks into the door, it’s Jay Stelly, holding two coffees], people like Jay! Who brings me coffee. Jay is the most senior engineer at the company [laughs]. And he saw that I didn’t have coffee! There are probably at least five publishers he could call and get a $30 million project in an hour if he wanted to. The reason he’s here isn’t because he has no other option, he’s here because he can work with the best people we have. It’s here at Valve where his talent can make the biggest impact and he doesn’t have to waste time rolling his eyes at stupid things the marketing and management teams are doing."

stcredzero 15y ago
It’s here at Valve where his talent can make the biggest impact and he doesn’t have to waste time rolling his eyes at stupid things the marketing and management teams are doing. So, one secret to success is marketing and management that doesn't cause developer eye-rolling? This amounts to marketing and management that can actually communicate with devs. (And devs who aren't so one-dimensional that marketing/management can talk to them.)
- cppsnob 15y ago
  The most important part of marketing-dev collaboration is getting the two to have any respect at all for the other one's work and have a willingness to learn about it. After that point, communication seems to become a lot easier. As a side note, all major failures I've been familiar with have toxic marketing-dev relationships, so it's worth everyone's time to make this work.

by v21 15y ago

stcredzero 15y ago

It’s here at Valve where his talent can make the biggest impact and he doesn’t have to waste time rolling his eyes at stupid things the marketing and management teams are doing. So, one secret to success is marketing and management that doesn't cause developer eye-rolling? This amounts to marketing and management that can actually communicate with devs. (And devs who aren't so one-dimensional that marketing/management can talk to them.)

cppsnob 15y ago
The most important part of marketing-dev collaboration is getting the two to have any respect at all for the other one's work and have a willingness to learn about it. After that point, communication seems to become a lot easier. As a side note, all major failures I've been familiar with have toxic marketing-dev relationships, so it's worth everyone's time to make this work.