Talk:Skunk works

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Skunk works article. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (`~~~~`). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

I believe this page should be renamed to Skunk Works (note the capitalization). At least one page has a link to Skunk Works instead of this one; since they changed name, I believe the page should go along too.

However, should this page be instead moved to Lockheed Advanced Development Projects? This seems the correct way to markup that content; but I need more experience before I can be sure. I welcome all feedback, of course!

TIA, -- Luis Bruno

I agree with Luis Bruno. The title page entry should reflect a capital 'W' in the title page, Skunk Works. This is how the current Lockheed Martin building at Site 10 at U. S. Air Force Plant 42 located in Palmdale, California is referred to both within the company itself and in colloquial usage. Site 10 once again is painted with the familiar skunk picture logo, after a brief absence.

The Skunk Works is a current, active part of Lockheed Martin in Palmdale, as well as a storied and historic part of the history of Lockheed in Palmdale and its earlier location in Burbank, California.

I'd say that most wikipedia users will first think of "Skunk Works" before they type in the more cumbersome and formal LADP. I'd therefore recommend this entry stay where it is, but maintain a link to the LADP page. 209.221.221.89 04:25, 4 Jun 2004 (UTC) avnative

1 Two pages
2 Agree with need for alternate definition
3 the topic sentence
4 Origin of name
5 correction to small detail
6 planes missing

[edit] Two pages

"Skunk Works" is now used to refer to a particular style of working, as well as referring to the lab that named and pioneered it, "Lockheed Advanced Development Projects". It would make sense to have a page for each.

Skunkworks is the name of an album by Bruce Dickinson. "Skunkworks" shouldn't automatically forward to "Skunk Works" in my humble opinion. --Demonslave 17:37, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Agree with need for alternate definition

I came to Wikipedia for colloquial usage definition. My company has used this term for years to indicate a small scale project without little or no initial visibility but with the potential (if things go well) of significant impact. The clear implication being that visibility, process, management sponsorship, etc. can sometimes be the enemy of innovation. For a usage example: See item 7 here: http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/000043.php[/url]. This is a good definition: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sku1.htm.

[edit] the topic sentence

Skunk works is a term used in engineering and technical applications for secret (black) projects.

This doesn't seem right to me. I've heard the term more used to describe projects with limited oversight and flexible engineering practices. The original developer of AIM called it "skunk works" project because it was completely unsponsored by AOL. A Scaled Composites engineer named their operation a "real skunk works," because of the unconventional lack of structure in their development work. None of these projects were remotely "secret" in the "black" sense.

I agree. This article (and not just the topic sentence) needs work. Willy Logan 21:42, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Apopos of this section and "Agree with need for alternate definition" above, I agree that this definition is too narrow. To qualify as a skunkworks, a project need not be secret and need not be unofficial. I think the key is a loose organizational structure that allows creative minds to work together in creating new technologies and new ways of doing things, with results that would be hard to achieve with rigid, top-down organizational stuctures. Whether or not the terms were actually used at the time, I believe that Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory and Henry Ford's early facilities are classic examples of skunk works or skunkworks. Anomalocaris 20:44, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Origin of name

Every authoritative source on Lockheed I have seen (including Beyond the Horizons, by Walter J. Boyne) agrees with the L'il Abner explanation. I have removed the following unsourced explanation:

Another theory for the name arises from the parking lot where Skunk Works was originally run. The development of projects was held in a black circus tent that is rumored to have had white lines running through its top. Therefore, when seen from an airplane in the sky, the circus tent had the appearance of a skunk.

Willy Logan 01:32, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] correction to small detail

In this article it states that SR-71 Blackbird was retired in 1989, when it was actually brough back in to service and then re-retired on october 15th 1999, by Former President William Clinton.