Valve is a unique company with no traditional hierarchy. In business school, I read a very interesting Harvard Business Review article on the subject. Unfortunately it’s locked behind a paywall, but this is Google AI’s summary of the article which I confirm to be true from what I remember:

According to a Harvard Business Review article from 2013, Valve, the gaming company that created Half Life and Portal, has a unique organizational structure that includes a flat management system called "Flatland". This structure eliminates traditional hierarchies and bosses, allowing employees to choose their own projects and have autonomy. Other features of Valve's structure include:

Self-allocated time: Employees have complete control over how they allocate their time
No managers: There is no managerial oversight
Fluid structure: Desks have wheels so employees can easily move between teams, or "cabals"
Peer-based performance reviews: Employees evaluate each other's performance and stack rank them
Hiring: Valve has a unique hiring process that supports recruiting people with a variety of skills

[–] Ragdoll_X@lemmy.world 103 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (2 children)

Kinda sounds like how worker cooperatives work tbh, but with Gabe still technically being the owner.

I remember reading a news piece a while back about how the founder of a food company made sure to transfer ownership to the employees before leaving. While we're talking about worst-case scenarios, let's also hope for the best and hope that Gabe has a similar plan.

[–] andxz@lemmy.world 28 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Him being a pretty smart guy overall surely has at least some sort of continuity planned.

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 4 weeks ago

It would be best to convert it to full employee ownership if it isn’t yet. As long as a steady stream of good employees keeps revolving in it should be a stable company that provides for its employees and customers.

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