Google’s skunk works division brought to life the space elevators, the robotics projects, and the self-driving car; During the 1950's, information from CIA director Allen Dulles supplied to US citizens regarding Soviet military strength suggested a crushing military superiority of the Soviets over the US...Dulles' data at the time did not support his conclusions... The CIA's misinformation helped to create a climate of fear in the US-- at this time, polls showed a majority of Americans believed death in a nuclear war was a likelihood;

So Kelly’s team rented a circus tent to work on the project and delivered the fighter in just 143 days. According to lore, the tent had a pungent smell because it was sitting adjacent to a plastics factory in Burbank. The name Skunk Works was born. An artist rendering of a next-generation unmanned aircraft Skunk Works is pitching to the Pentagon. The team should be able to collocate in a small, yet well-equipped office. Co-location reinforces strong and productive team dynamics. People feel more comfortable when working close and face to face. Also, they can argue better, focusing more on creativity and results than on playing by the rules of the parent organization. #4 Stay away from outsidersCallan speculated in a note to investors that although the loss was “not large,” it may have still led to Possenriede’s resignation if he or his team missed warnings of the project’s troubles. But it wasn’t the time they put in that mattered. It was the way they worked that made them exceptional.

The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones. After their first success, they applied the Skunk Works method again to create the world’s first spy plane in 1954 that could take crystal clear pictures at 70,000 feet.

What Type of Feedback is Useful for Innovation? 

Going Skunk describes an enriched environment intended to help a small group of individuals design new ideas.

While the visit here made clear that public updates on these programs won’t be coming soon, the peek behind the curtain shows what may be possible. Proponents of this approach to innovation say skunkworks projects enable teams to fully break from their usual routines, a separation of duties that enables them to deliver the kind of innovations that Johnson's team did during World War II. Digital engineering is the big new trend in weapons development. The move sets up Skunk Works to create aircraft at a low price by owning a project from birth into adulthood, Babione said. For example, build a spy plane capable of taking crystal-clear photographs from 70,000 feet and a Mach-3 aircraft fast enough to outrun enemy missiles that could fly continuously for hours on end. Also, make them invisible to enemy radar. Despite the Tom Clancy recommendation glaring on the cover of this edition, Skunk Works isn't a bad read. Whatever the writing skills of engineer Rich, cowriter Janos's collaboration with him resulted in an engrossing text. Of course I've long had a special interest in the history of espionage, so the subject-matter went far towards keeping me involved.Pointedly, the book ends with a lengthy section about how to do R&D, especially for defense and intelligence, with optimal accomplishment at minimal cost, using the Skunk Works' history as an example of success contrasted with normal corporate-government contracts as examples of inefficiency and waste. An engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp's newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner." In the comic, there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works," where a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients.