The Origin of Skunkwork

To understand how the term skunkworks can be applied to modern day business, the origin of the word must be explained. During World War 2 America needed an aircraft that could meet and exceed the jets of the Germans. In June 1943 a proposal for the first American fighter jet was quickly put together by Kelly Johnson, an engineer at the U.S. Army’s Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC). A team immediately went to work to build the jet, however the formal contract was not signed until four months later.

This maverick approach to begin a project with just a handshake and a strong desire to move forward without any bureaucracy, led to the jet being designed and built within 143 days. The whole project was top secret and due to the lack of available space,the engineers built the jet in a circus tent erected in the grounds of the army base. This was located next to a plastics manufacturing company that produced a strong odour.  At this time, Al Capp's newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner featured a mysterious and smelly place called "Skonk Works". The name was adopted by the engineers to describe their place of work and quickly became known as "skunkworks". Skunkworks is the alias for Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs. and is now a registered trademark.

The term skunkworks is now synonymous with projects that are designed and built quickly and unconventionally with the minimum management constraints.

OpusVL and Skunkworks

By the time Stuart Mackintosh founded OpusVL in January 2000, he had already been designing projects in typical "Skunkworks" fashion.   His rapidly expanding interest and use of Open Source software was already an unconventional approach and the ability to use this knowledge to best suit customers placed OpusVL in a strong position. Open source software is now a viable alternative to propriety software in nearly all aspects of business technology. However OpusVL still see the benefits of adopting a skunkworks approach to how these designs can be adopted without the cumbersome red tape that usually accompanies them. By working closely with customers, projects can be rapidly deployed and adapted to changing requirements. Back in 1943 Kelly Johnson detailed his 14 rules and practices to a skunkworks operation.  OpusVL have naturally delivered projects in line with many of his objectives including:-

• " A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided."
•  "There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly".
•  "There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. Don't have the books ninety days late and don't surprise the customer with sudden overruns."
•  "There must be mutual trust between the [military] project organization and the contractor with very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.

Government

When the Conservative/Liberal government took office in 2010 they recognised the benefit that skunkworks would have on developing IT projects and processes. Recently appointed as the governments Chief Information Officer,  Joe Harley, is set to recruit a director of IT Futures, who will look at how the skunkwork system can be used, with the emphasis on increasing the use of open source and open standards. 

Other Examples of Skunkwork Projects

Apple and the Graphing Calculator  (NuCalc) the full story can be found here http://www.pacifict.com/Story/. It describes how the determination of individuals who think outside the box and belief in a product can overcome typical bureaucracy.