Lockheed Secret Projects: Inside the Skunk Works (Motorbooks ColorTech) Review

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(More customer reviews)It is truly amazing what the Skunk Works will attempt to design. From the first operational US jet fighter, to the first operational Mach 2 airplane, to UAVs and suborbital spacecraft (the X-33) ... Skunk Works has tried it all. Normally they succeed, and that is what most books are about. But this one actually takes you into some of the programs that have failed. Although fairly small, it is in full color and contains lots of great information. Highly recommended.

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Since 1943, scores of remarkable military aircraft and aviation technologies have rolled out of Lockheed's top-secret Skunk Works program. This in-depth look at the famous research and design team's pioneering work reveals the nuts and bolts behind production and experimental aircraft, from the P-80 Shooting Star to today's X-35 Joint Strike Fighter prototype. While the emphasis is on high-profile products like the U-2 Dragon Lady, SR-71 Blackbird, C-130 Hercules, F-117 Nighthawk and F-22 Raptor, the book also examines Skunk Works projects that have yet to be covered in book form, including the Tier III Minus DarkStar unmanned air vehicle and the X-33 VentureStar orbiter.

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Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a gem on many levels:
1) On the history and development of spy planes: This has been covered by many previous reviews on this book. So, I won't write more here.
2) On creativity: There are a lot of books on creativity. Many of them are trivial. Most are written by people who themselves have not design or deliver noteworthy innovations that are of national or international significance. This book is different. It is written by a person who has contributed innovations at, and even run Skunk Works, which has delivered innovation after innovation that are internationally significant.
How does a smart scientist or engineer determine if an organization is a place of major technical inventions? This book tells you the characteristics of such organizations. How do you organize and run a place that can deliver breakthrough innovations at bargain prices? This book gives you the principles on how to do it correctly.
3) On cold war and patriotism: This book gives you a glimpse into the cold war, and the hair-triggering tension of nuclear war between U.S. and the ex-Soviet Union. Also, it shows the patriotism among the U.S. government officials, top military echelons, pilots, and civilian scientists and engineers. Even more, it shows how Skunk Works' technologies tipped the power towards the U.S.
4) On biographies: This book is a partial and vivid biography of both Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich. Their personal traits, both strengths and flaws, are clearly described.
5) On Navy's major shortcomings: Kelly's fifteenth principle of rather to starve than to deal with the Navy is nothing short of astonishment. The descriptions of the Navy's sticking to Aegis frigate rather than Skunk Works' SWATH ship, and preferring traditional submarines rather than stealth submarines are so, so astounding. Right now, U.S. has the world's greatest naval power. U.S. naval power could have been much, much greater and the cost to the tax payers could have been much, much lower cost if the Navy had adopted stealth technologies from Skunk Works.
6) On the harmful effects of government interferences, wastes and bureaucratic madness: Reading this book and you can understand why we spend so much in defense and get so little in return.
Overall, this book deserves more than 5 stars. It should be read by CEOs and CTOs (Chief Technology Officer) of every major and high tech corporation looking for ways to leapfrog the competitions. It should be read by every Secretary of Defense and officers in high military echelons looking for military technologies to surpass other nations. It should be read by every bright scientists and engineers looking for a place to work where major innovations can be produced. It should be read by every science and engineering professors on how to educate future generations of science and engineering students that can create and innovate.


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In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies (Collins Business Essentials) Review

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(More customer reviews)This publication is a survey written by a couple of McKinsey consultants that seek to define the characteristics of successful, I mean excellent, organizations using the McKinsey 7-S framework; Structure, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, Strategy, and Shared Values.
Their findings suggest that eight attributes are common for an excellent organization; bias for action, close to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands on, value driven, stick to the knitting (=focus on what you do best), simple form lean staff, and simultaneous loose-tight properties (balance between centralized/decentralized organization). This is it.
Although the authors have a pleasant narrative style and are eloquent in making their point, I hesitate to buy into the arguments presented, first and foremost because I question the all encompassing validity of the McKinsey 7-s approach. Secondly, the authors cite companies such as Digital and Wang as qualifying for excellency. Whatever these companies did during the eighties, it wasn't good enough in the end since their advantage was not sustained and hence I wouldn't call them excellent. Thirdly, the best before stamp is obvious.
I do find the introduction and management theory review very well written and enjoyable. Ironically, (for me) the authors find that chapter the least important part of the book. I beg to differ. Overall, this would make a good intro for those interested in management theory. While you're at it, try to also take a look at Michael Porter's and Peter Drucker's work. In my view they are the authority in the field.

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The "Greatest Business Book of All Time" (Bloomsbury UK), In Search of Excellence has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table.

Based on a study of forty-three of America's best-run companies from a diverse array of business sectors, In Search of Excellence describes eight basic principles of management -- action-stimulating, people-oriented, profit-maximizing practices -- that made these organizations successful.

Joining the HarperBusiness Essentials series, this phenomenal bestseller features a new Authors' Note, and reintroduces these vital principles in an accessible and practical way for today's management reader.

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