In some cases, a really unhelpful or ineffective person will cause enough problems among peers that the situation will be escalated to more senior folks via inf

In some cases, a really unhelpful or ineffective person will cause enough problems among peers that the situation will be escalated to more senior folks via informal channels. The senior folks compare the badness of the person with other past problematic people at Valve, and ultimately make the decision whether the person should be fired or tolerated because they provide some sort of special value to the company. In many cases, this all makes sense, and works fine. In other cases, the firing does not originate with peers, but with the senior folks. I worked with a guy who was providing solid help with a project. He was fired along with others in the "great cleansing" of 2013, slowing our progress and creating unnecessary turmoil. We were told by the senior folks that this person was bad in the past. He may not be bad now, but his past badness was too much, and he had to go (?!). Who knows if this made sense or not. Information is not freely distributed within the company, so it's often hard to tell why certain things operate the way they do. With proper perspective, it may make sense, but you have to work at Valve for 10+ years to get that perspective.