Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

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Get an inside look at the creation of Darkstar, a conceptual hypersonic aircraft designed for the big screen. #TopGun Rich’s concluding chapter, “Drawing the Right Conclusions” outlines his own ideas for more sensible procurement policies throughout the defense industry. He anticipates the widespread use of drones. I don’t know enough to determine whether any of his idea have been adopted, but they make sense if one wants both to control costs, and maintain a technological edge in weaponry. 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 outsiders This memoir chronicles the development of “stealth technology” and the F-117A. The result played out years later in Iraq:

Skunk Works” is one of the best books I’ve read. It’s just as fascinating to me when I read it the 8th time as it was the first. I believe one of the reasons I ultimately majored in aerospace engineering was due to this book (and perhaps my unhealthy space obsession helped). The increasing layers of bureaucracy over his career added crazy paper, lots of oversight and huge numbers of people to the staff. Culver's use of "Skonk Works" caught on with his colleagues on the team and eventually morphed into Skunk Works. After arriving at the visitor’s center, guests are escorted — sometimes by van, often through underground tunnels, always under close watch — throughout the campus to avoid seeing too much. Roughly 85 percent of the work done here is classified. This is the detailed exciting story of how revolutionary aeronautical technology was created and changed aeronautical warfare.

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Two brief criticisms: One, the "other voices" interludes sometimes break up the narrative flow a bit too much. But Rich being what he was -- the second leader of a highly complex organization -- would naturally feel drawn to this kind of structure, in which value is placed on multiple viewpoints. Two, and I can't believe I'm writing this: Most books, if length is a problem, suffer from being too long. With "Skunk Works," I was hoping it would last even longer. Again, though, the book's concision is indicative of its author's personality; Rich was a "get it done" kind of guy who belied the image of a greedy contractor stretching out a project for as long as possible. Skunk Works prided itself on making or even beating deadlines, and thus Rich the author wasn't going to write a bloated book. Whenever a business needs to do something bold, “going Skunk” is a great way to get innovation done. Today you can find the term “skunk works” in any dictionary, mainly defined as “a small laboratory or department of a large company used for doing new scientific research or developing new products.” How to set up a skunk works team

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. The Eisenhower administration was not alarmed by the revelation of Soviet Sputnik technology because Sputnik technology was not superior to existing American satellite technology. The US had superior technology...Sputnik was not a demonstation of technological prowess; really, it was more of a public relations coup. Eisenhower wished to ignore it, in fact. He was finally persuaded to mount what was in essence a public relations counter-measure to the Soviets and also a strengthening of the hand of the political-economic element in the US which benefited from the crisis mentality of the Cold War. 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. Nearly 80 years later, it’s a lot more high-tech than high-top. Skunk Works has just completed a 215,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility that can crank out aircraft for the U.S. and its allies as they look to future conflicts.Callan 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. It’s one way to achieve the Art of Impossible (which happens to be the title of Steven Kotler’s newest book). The new facility makes up a small portion of Skunk Works’ footprint in the desert. Sitting on a table-flat square of land surrounded by sun-bleached highways, where the temperature soared to 105 degrees during the visit, Skunk Works is actually a collection of 58 buildings spread out over 2.4 million square feet. 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. Aside from that, this book appeals to the avio-geek in me and provide loads of interesting information on the how and why of exotic airplane development.

These rewards go above someone’s basic survival needs to impact a deep emotional desire to live a purpose-filled, self-directed life. Ben Rich, the second director of the Skunk Works, writes a fun account of his views on aviation, engineering, and procurement politics. The Skunk Works was an elite brotherhood devoted towards the best in aviation, with rules to minimize management bullshit and keep every engineer within a stone's throw of the production floor. Rich discusses in detail his work on the F-117 stealth fighter, the U-2, and the SR-71, with dips into Navy stealth boats ("never work for the Navy, they don't know what they want and they'll break your heart"), and the red tape of military bureaucracy.Each member of Johnson’s team was cautioned that design and production of the new XP-80 fighter jet must be carried out in strict secrecy. No one was to discuss the project outside the small organization, and team members were warned to be careful of how they answered the phones. The Skunks’ Den is the only unclassified room at headquarters. The modern space looks like any ordinary conference room. There’s a large conference table and extra seating. But this is also stuffed with some 60 toaster-sized models on display stands lining the walls encased in glass. Designate a leader and provide them with full control of the project, in all aspects. “He/she must only report to a division president or higher.” This move is only possible if there is trust. Without trust in the leader and his/her team, people outside the project, including the customer, will intervene in a counter-productive manner. #2 Viciously minimize the team And there’s more to the book than the story of technical achievements. For one thing, it includes some of the more interesting failures. We also get to hear the dramatic stories of men who flew these planes, like the U-2 pilot who accidentally flew into the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly sparking WW3, to the stealth bomber pilot whose bomb bay doors didn’t close after he dropped his payload in Iraq. With the doors open he was uncomfortably exposed to enemy radar, and he had to crank the doors shut by hand as a missile streaked towards him (once the doors were shut he became invisible again and the missile missed). Companies don’t form Skunk Works to do business as usual. A Skunk Works team is focused on high, hard goals.