If there is no boss, everyone is your boss, or your client. Not a bad way to go about things. You end up overall working better with people around you.

Also, being evaluated by what you deliver and by your peers isn't too bad, considering the alternative is possibly a non technical boss that may never understand what you do.

I try to work with co-workers as if they were friendly clients. I think this leads to good product launches and results.

How exactly is this double speak? I am parsing this as saying that "nobody" is my boss (if I were at Valve), ESPECIALLY Gabe. If I am working on a team and there is a team lead and he asks me to do something I am most likely inclined to do it with little pushback/skepticism, what the handbook is saying that if Gabe tells me to do something I better damn well run it by 1 or more other people (the team I am on most likely) and discuss it before I even think of doing what he suggests.

I thought it was a not-so-subtle tongue-in-cheek reference to Gabe's weight/size. He's a big guy. shrug

"Gabe Newell — Of all the people at this company who aren’t your boss, Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we’re saying."

This is double speak because it is saying one thing explicitly and exactly the opposite meaning is implied.

In other words - we are all equal (there is no hierarchy), but some are more equal than others (there is a hierarchy) - if you get what I'm saying.