🎪 From circus tent to fighter jet
Hello! Adam Thornhill here. ‘The Podcast Guy’ saving you 10 hours a week.
Enjoy the 68th Podup with the best bits from Acquired.
It's 1944. Germany are showing signs of losing World War II. But, they have one last ace up their sleeve. The Swallow. It's the world's first fighter jet and flies close to 550 miles an hour - over 100 miles an hour faster than any Allied plane.
In response, the US government turns to the best man for the job. Kelly Johnson of Lockheed. They task him with an audacious challenge: develop a fighter jet prototype that can surpass the German Swallow's speed within 180 days.
The power of proximity
Kelly Johnson selected 23 of Lockheed's top engineers and designers and about 30 of their best shop people - the individuals responsible for physically building the airplanes.
For Kelly, proximity to the production floor was paramount. He needed the engineers and designers to be just steps away from the shop workers, enabling rapid structural or design modifications.
To accomplish this, Kelly rented a circus tent in the parking lot next to a plastics factory. Kelly and his elite team built the first prototype US fighter jet in 143 days from start to finish. This is just wild. It set an unparalleled benchmark in aviation history.
David Rosenthal
Why it matters
Many business leaders are reevaluating the merits of remote work. The story of Kelly Johnson and his Lockheed team highlights the value of proximity, particularly for brick-and-mortar and hardware businesses where tight communication between the shop floor, product, engineering, and design departments is vital.
The importance of daily in-person collaboration is significantly reduced with software companies - they’re less complex and involve fewer stakeholders. Nevertheless, the Skunk Works story shows us the impact in-person can have on morale, speed, and creativity when tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Next steps
Regardless of the nature of your business, everyone can draw inspiration from Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules. Here are three standout principles:
Give people autonomy. “The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of their program in all aspects.” This accelerates decision-making and fosters deep ownership of projects.
Purposefully constrain resources. “The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to normal systems).” Your team will prioritize more effectively and find creative ways to solving problems.
Reward independent contributors. “Find ways to pay people based on good performance rather than the number of personnel supervised.” This fosters a culture of meritocracy and avoids management bloat.
Your thoughts?
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Quotes were pulled at different points of the episode. Sentences were left out to make the narrative more concise. Podup is not associated or affiliated with any podcast.
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