Skunk Works

In 1943, Germany deployed the first operational jet fighter and America had nothing to match it. Lockheed's chief engineer, Kelly Johnson, was given 150 days to design and build America's first jet fighter from scratch. He delivered it seven days ahead of schedule. That was not a one-off. It became the operating model for the most legendary engineering division in history. Johnson's manufacturing principle was radical. He co-located design and production so that the engineer who drew a part on paper walked 20 feet and built it with their own hands. In a traditional defense contractor, an engineer submits a design. It goes through months of review, a separate team manufactures it, a separate team tests it, and problems are discovered six months after the design was finalized. Johnson eliminated the entire chain. His engineers felt the problem in their hands the same day they drew it on paper. Feedback loops that took months were compressed to hours. He codified this into 14 rules. Small teams of no more than 150 people, minimal paperwork, direct access to decision makers, no unnecessary reports.