Skunk Works: boosting the process of innovation away from the daily grind

So the story goes, the term Skunk Works originated during the second World War when, in response to a rapidly expanding German air force, US firm Lockheed Martin set up a secret division with the instruction to design and build a new jet fighter plane.

This closely guarded group of top engineers and designers were housed in a circus tent beside a foul-smelling plastics factory in California.

The strong smells from the factory nearby led the Lockheed workers to compare their situation with the “Skunk Works” factory in the cartoon Al Capp’s Li’l Abner.

In this approach, innovation and experimentation are encouraged and the daily work routine is abandoned. The conditions may have been difficult, but the outcome – the XP-80 jet fighter, completed in 143 days – confirmed this type of incubatory approach as a success.

Since then Lockheed’s Skunk Works division has been responsible for a number of other famous aircraft designs – the U-2, the F117 Nighthawk – and they are currently working on the F-35 Lightning II.

An example we might all be more familiar with is that of Steve Jobs and the design of the Apple Mac.

Jobs cherry-picked the designers and engineers he wanted, to make a team that would move out of the Apple headquarters into their own offices and work day and night on the computer made for the “rest of us”.

In some cases, the Skunk Works approach might lead a company into an unexpected level of diversification.

"Nokia didn't set out to make mobile phones," says Tom Kelly, head of manufacturing and competitiveness at Enterprise Ireland. "They were in the pulping paper business but started experimenting and developing technology around communications.

"The true essence of Skunk Works is the ability of an organisation to transition out of what you've got into something totally different. This gives a renewal of life to all concerned."

'Big ideas start out small'
Understandably, it is only the largest of companies who can afford to let some of their staff just swan off for months and work on a project that may or may not bear fruit. But in actuality, smaller companies are in fact the ones that have an element of Skunk Works built into their modus operandi.

Only some big companies can afford to be perpetually innovative.

"Big ideas start out small," explains Steven Collins from moblie app analytics company Swrve.

“It’s normal for a start-up or smaller company to be putting time into experimental projects because they have very little to lose. When a company reaches a certain size, they need to start worrying about quarterly reviews and keeping shareholders happy.

“You have to allow a whole cohort of your staff to work away on strange projects in spite of what the marketing team are saying, in spite of current consumer trends, etc.”

To a certain extent, the modern R&D division of an organisation is the new Skunk Works.

“It’s an important part of the psyche to have people who can step back and do things that don’t quite fit into the normal operations of a company,” says Kelly. “But over the years, with the move to more structured R&D approaches, people talk less about Skunk Works.”

“In Ireland, you would see this in the precision engineering industry, with companies that might have been sub- suppliers to larger entities but in some instances begin to make their own products, not simply the parts ordered up by the multinational, but their own product in their own right. The decision to be innovative in that respect comes from experience and confidence.”

But there are subtle differences with a true Skunk Works. With R&D, staff are usually working on existing prototypes for new products or services, whereas the Skunk Works division will have little or no remit whatsoever.

“R&D are working on the next product,” says Collins. “Skunk Works forgets about the current customers and revenues streams, and is given much more of a free reign.”

“Most informed companies will create a space for their employees or staff to explore beyond the boundaries of their day to day tasks,” says Collins.

“Here at Swrve we have a ‘hack day’, where our team can work on anything they want. It’s only a day every once in a while but it’s important for larger companies to bring in an element of discontinuity every now and again. That’s where the fluke discoveries will be made.”

Large companies, particularly in the technology sector, know this all too well. Google and others like them will have mandated special project time for employees, a sort of entrenched Skunk Works.

“Google have the X Projects division, where smart cars and Google glasses were thought up,” says Collins. “But they have highlighted the value of having a more institutionalised Skunk Works approach, which isn’t a separate division, but is time given to employees to spend time on whatever they want.”