Wearable computing has been a hot topic as of late, largely as a result of details on Google’s Project Glass being made public. However, Google is not the only company at work on such a project, with Valve being another example as detailed in a blog post written by Michael Abrash.
Abrash has had an impressive career; he played an intricate role in the development of Windows NT and has written several books. As far as his contributions to the games industry go, he worked on the Xbox but is best known as one of the two programmers, along with John Carmack, of the original Quake. His newly launched blog covers how he ended up at Valve about a year and a half ago, his history with company co-founder Gabe Newell (who was also a Microsoft employee once upon a time), and the hierarchy at Valve — or lack thereof. It’s a fascinating look at how the company is run, with employees not reporting to any managers and deciding on their own how their time would be best spent. It simultaneously explains both why something like Valve Time exists and how so much of what the company does turns out to be so good.
