Comments on: HOWTO work at a company without a boss

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:07:00 +0000

As any casual pondwatcher can attest, linear mallards are juveniles. While an important step in development, one doesn’t see useful results until they acquire autonomy of purpose; one doesn’t begin to see results approaching an ideal until said purpose is turned towards the weal of the flock.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:12:00 +0000

Once unity is achieved you can start working together.

Working together to finally initialize mallard linearization, for a better way of life.

By: GW74

GW74 — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:17:00 +0000

that’s the same argument that the Chinese Communist party use re democracy, that the Chinese people aren’t “ready” for it.

By: kiwidebz

kiwidebz — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:51:00 +0000

I don’t – “e” is a long way from “a” on most phones. I’m not really being pedantic, I’m just continuing the thread to see how long it takes for Muphry’s law to become evident.

By: gd23

gd23 — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:13:00 +0000

That’s teaching like a boss… wait hang on… :)

By: novium

novium — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 06:54:00 +0000

Schools that work that way are awesome. I know. The high school I graduated from worked on that principle. Actually, that high school was the prism through which I understood how the company was operating (especially when it came to things like salaries and stuff- they work just like our project grades.). I’d never thought that such a thing might exist in the real world, but once I knew it did, I really hated myself for not having a single skill that’d give me an excuse to apply for a job there. And then I hated the crappy job I was working at the time even more. It was at a theoretically non-hierarchical organization that was actually extremely hierarchical, just not formally…which meant it had all the downsides of hierarchy and non of the benefits. If the organization had been managed like Valve, I’d have been able to get SO MUCH MORE DONE, as would have the rest of my department. We’d have accomplished amazing things. I mentioned the thing casually to the CEO in a long car ride, but she was all, “Oh, you know, that doesn’t apply to non-profits, blah blah blah.” (seems to me that non-profits are in less of a position to throw money away via stupidly self-sabotaging management styles, but, heh, I wasn’t the one getting paid stupid money to run the place in to the ground.)

By: pjcamp

pjcamp — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:57:00 +0000

Just LOOK at those cartoon bananas!

Look at them.

By: WilliamMacfarlane

WilliamMacfarlane — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:40:00 +0000

As someone who co-directs a non-coercive “school-alternative” for K-12 kids who plans on printing out the “how to work without a boss” page and adding “or teacher” to it, I would say that it, indeed, looks pretty amazing.

By: Itsumishi

Itsumishi — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:21:00 +0000

Sort of, except communism still has bosses, usually scary bosses that will arrest you if they think you’re not working hard enough. So not really like communism at all.

By: Itsumishi

Itsumishi — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Hey that’s not fair, Valve have hired at least one female and she did an excellent job on voicing GLaDOS.

By: miasm

miasm — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:18:00 +0000

I, for one, welcome our new collaborative colleague-lords.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:56:00 +0000

People who take coffee very seriously.

Is this a skydiving business?

By: sqyntz

sqyntz — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 22:29:00 +0000

touché – i believe you

By: shadowfirebird

shadowfirebird — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 22:05:00 +0000

Typing. It’s my phone, honest…

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Then leave the rest to Batman.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:41:00 +0000

Pop ‘Collaborative Learning’ into Google Scholar and you can see just how amazing it is where it has been tested.

Collaboration improves subject understanding, information retention, critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills, you name it…

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:16:00 +0000

This will work because we all joined a company for the fun of it, and not to be paid a wage.

By: Dean Putney

Dean Putney — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:10:00 +0000

Zing!

By: politeruin

politeruin — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Fig. 2-4 shows one of the character illustrations wearing a half-life 3 shirt…oh valve, you do troll us so. Plus they have some very nifty moveable workspaces.

By: sqyntz

sqyntz — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:59:00 +0000

presumably, said boss is there to fix spelling

By: Guysmiley

Guysmiley — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:56:00 +0000

It pretty much is how Valve works, at least on a very high level. The thing is, Valve is very picky about WHO they hire and not everyone can function in an environment like that.

By: pKp

pKp — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Well, technically Valve works like an anarchist commune.

By: fnc

fnc — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:41:00 +0000

sqyntz : People who want a cup of coffee. Duh.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:41:00 +0000

People who take coffee very seriously. That’s actually another benefit.

Other answer I considered: Gale Boetticher.

By: awjt

awjt — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:37:00 +0000

Si senor, this is better.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:36:00 +0000

If communism gave us Half Life II and the two subsequent “episodes” then perhaps communism has been unfairly maligned.

By: sqyntz

sqyntz — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:36:00 +0000

who’s gonna make the coffee?

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:17:00 +0000

Skipped a couple of important steps:

1. Come up with a bright idea.
2. Tell a coworker about it.
3. Work on it together.
4. ???
5. Ship it.
6. Profit!

By: chellberty

chellberty — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:16:00 +0000

Workers self directed enterprises
http://www.democracyatwork.info/action/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJVBZn1VaM

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:59:00 +0000

http://i.imgur.com/ZQAhP.png

By: E T

E T — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:43:00 +0000

1. Undergo sex unification.
2. Coordinate skin color.
3. Synchronize hairstyles.

Once unity is achieved you can start working together.