SkunkWorks

• The Barracuda

  15 Oct 04, 11:37

  http://www.skunklink.com/Skunkworks.htm
  
  SkunkWorks Defined
  
  A typically small and loosely structured group of people who research and develop a project for the sake of innovation. The term is typically used in regard to technology projects.
  
  Skunkworks often operate independent of a companyÂ’s normal research and development operations. They are subject to limitations in resources but are less limited by standardized processes and conventional thinking.
  
  Skunkwork projects are often undertaken in secret with the understanding that if the development is successful then the product will be designed later according to the usual process. A famous example of a skunkwork project is the first Apple Macintosh computer.
  
  I have PM to some of you guys out there. Wat I have in mind is a group of individual people coming together in a forum to come up with innovative and new ideas to improve the country.
  
  Its non-partisan and not an organisation aim at challenging the authority or undermine the credibility of the govt.
  
  Hope those peeps who have their reservations will reconsider.
  
  
• The Barracuda

  15 Oct 04, 11:52

  http://iroi.seu.edu.cn/books/ee_dic/whatis/skunkworks.htm
  
  A skunkworks is a group of people who, in order to achieve unusual results, work on a project in a way that is outside the usual rules. A skunkworks is often a small team that assumes or is given responsibility for developing something in a short time with minimal management constraints. Typically, a skunkworks has a small number of members in order to reduce communications overhead. A skunkworks is sometimes used to spearhead a product design that thereafter will be developed according to the usual process. A skunkworks project may be secret.
  
  As for the term's origin, we like what Harry Newton says in Newton's Telecom Dictionary:
  
  "Term for usually-secret high-pressure/high-tech research group in a company or government, often populated by people who don't see much sunlight or soap. Hence the name, skunkworks."
  The name of the animal itself was derived by early American settlers from the Algonquin Indian seganku.