One important point highlighted in the article is that there's very little if at all "group creativity". A single good idea is like an atom, it's concieved induvidually, from someone's previous experience, from a single person's background.
What this remarkable structure does is create a way of consistently filtering ideas, and generating many of them consistently -- all while integrating them towards a bigger picture. The group seems to be just large enough so that someone is being creative all the time while not too many are generating noise.
In other words, it highlights every creator not as a cog generating an enormous structure but it identifies individuals with pieces of work, with full responsibility. Every piece of art or tech is someone's pet and it gives people the opportunity to nurture them and see it succeed.
(Although I wish I worked at Valve to be able speak from experience...)
What this remarkable structure does is create a way of consistently filtering ideas, and generating many of them consistently -- all while integrating them towards a bigger picture. The group seems to be just large enough so that someone is being creative all the time while not too many are generating noise.
In other words, it highlights every creator not as a cog generating an enormous structure but it identifies individuals with pieces of work, with full responsibility. Every piece of art or tech is someone's pet and it gives people the opportunity to nurture them and see it succeed.
(Although I wish I worked at Valve to be able speak from experience...)