At Bacon's Information Inc. in Chicago, Scott Thompson, senior vice president of IT, implements a more modest form of skunk works when his department needs to analyze new technologies and products. "It's difficult to take on new technology these days because there are so many options and so much complexity regarding how these things fit together," says Thompson. "Skunk works is an appropriate approach to building some expertise in order to be able to evaluate technology."

Out of the Public Eye

A skunk works team usually consists of a handful of employees from the IT department who have demonstrated a knack for taking a fresh look at how technology can serve the organization.

To reduce distractions, many IT managers tuck the skunk works somewhere away from the day-to-day grind.

Keeping the operation under wraps is a key component of a true skunk works. According to Rick Swanborg, president and founder of Icex Inc. in Boston and executive in residence at Boston University's School of Management, "Sometimes CIOs have no alternative because some businesses consider anything technology-related as nothing more than a cost center. They say, 'Why are you spending time looking at technology? You just need to control costs.'" Twenty years ago, Swanborg was involved in skunk works that developed early versions of distributed LANs and portable computers.