Which companies? I found Valve to be quite unique (Github seems to be similar, but they seem to operate more like a group of open source projects).

I'm serious: I find this inspiring, and would love to know other companies doing something similar.

FogCreek and StackOverflow. Etsy.

We're doing it, too, at my company Funding Gates (http://fundinggates.com/jobs)

That doesn't sound like the Fog Creek I've read about, but maybe I'm just projecting from their well-publicized salary/seniority ladder? The dribs and drabs I've read about Joel's companies suggest that they're well-run classically-organized teams with a heavy dose of _Peopleware_ thinking (which is a great book).

Oh, I see. I was speaking primarily to:

"Anyone with even an ounce of management skill and education knows that when you have skilled people working for you, you get out the way and let them do their thing. This isn't exactly news."

I don't know about the internal organization of the teams

Unless this post is wrong, facebook in many ways, too: http://framethink.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/how-facebook-ship...

20% time policies are another variation.

The whole notion that everyone is responsible for product is pretty mainstream at this point, increasingly so since the whole "lean startup" concept gained traction.

20% time is not nearly the same thing as "we hire you, you figure out a team to go work on, leave those teams at any reasonable point, and feel free to start an entirely new full-time project as long as you can get buy-in for it, for there are no managers or bosses to tell you what to do".

Anyone with even an ounce of critical skill who has educated themselves on the literature of the firm knows that a hierarchical management structure does not suddenly become a flat structure simply because management has decided to "get out of the way." Not to mention the absence of literature on what it means exactly for management to "get out of the way."