[evoxed]

This is a common "issue" in design studios and the like. I've always been the kinda guy who enjoys using a lunch break to clean/fix up/replace the small things, because it's just what I'd do at home. Obviously there are places where people feel like they're dumb tasks, but I'd imagine that as the quality and mutual respect goes up (as in a place like Valve) there are more people likely to behave similarly.

[wpietri]

I would like to imagine that. But you run up against the "neatest roommate" problem.

Suppose you share a house with a half-dozen people. You are all good people, so whenever something seems messy to you, you clean it up. Problem solved, right?

In my experience, definitely not. Because the person who's best at perceiving mess tends to clean things up before other people notice anything. That person feels like they're doing more of the work. Because they are. And they feel unappreciated, because people generally don't notice the messy-to-clean transition.

I'm a recovering sysadmin; I burnt out because I grew so very tired of caring about things that people never noticed until they were broken. What they said then wasn't, "Gosh, I really appreciate how well the printer has worked these many months." They said, "God damn it! The printer's broken just when I need it the most!" I'd love to know how stabby Valve's sysadmins and IT people feel.