How Did a Tiny Skunk Works Team Beat Bigger Groups?

David Senra says Kelly Johnson built the world's fastest aircraft with 135 engineers, then sets that against a company with 1,206 people in quality control alone. One subcontractor had 40 people inspecting, coordinating, and reporting, and only 35 people building the instrument. More people were checking the work than doing it.

Reading Johnson, Senra says suppliers have to be given the same rules and permissions as Skunk Works, so everyone concentrates on the product instead of a system. The customer has to keep a small project office too, or the method does not work. Johnson means small. One other program used 145 Army people just to interface with the designer and manufacturer. Skunk Works, for both the CIA and the Air Force representatives on the U-2 and the SR-71, used six.