Introducing ‘HMG Skunkworks’

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HMG Skunkworks is a small in-house unit that is being established within Cabinet Office that will be
made up of internal and external developers working on the agile delivery of cross government ICT
needs. ‘HMG Skunkworks’ will deliver agile solutions to major government ICT projects, many of
which will be based around digital technologies. It is described in the government ICT Strategy as
follows:

‘A Government Skunkworks has been established to develop low-cost, fast and agile ICT solutions.
Skunkworks provides a new channel for SMEs and entrepreneurs to participate in government ICT with
new and innovative solutions. Skunkworks is embedded into the spending approvals process which
identifies where existing products can be reused or solutions developed in-house. Skunkworks is working
to develop an environment for SMEs to test their solutions to ensure compatibility within government’s
future standardised cloud environment.’

Instead of the large scale IT projects procured through lengthy processes that often exclude SMEs, the
HMG Skunkworks will look to break projects down in to smaller component delivery parts using agile
methodologies.

HMG Skunkworks recognises that delivering innovative, agile solutions requires building links between
those with problems and those with ideas or solutions which will often be in the leaner, faster SME
community. The HMG Skunkworks programme wants to engage with that SME innovator community for
solutions; a community that will hopefully already have a positive relationship with HMG Skunkworks
through the DotGovLabs Innovation Hub (an early Skunkworks component supporting the delivery of
solutions outside of government by the SME community.) Work is also underway to introduce the most
appropriate procurement and IP frameworks as well as links to the g-cloud apps store to further allow
the SMEs to work with government should they so wish. The following ‘Business Model Canvas’
illustrates the strategic vision for HMG Skunkworks (thanks to Apps 21 for their help with this):

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The term ‘skunkworks’ originates from the aerospace industry and refers to an agile delivery function which sits
outside the traditional structures. ‘Skunkworks’ in its original form represents a very different way of working
from the traditional production lines of the time and was responsible for a number of very innovative and
famous aircraft designs. From that point the term skunkworks has evolved to describe a group within an
organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with working on
advanced or innovative projects.
What you will see start happening
To create this agile way of working with SMEs, the HMG Skunkworks wants the SME community to
work with it to design the right processes and terms of engagement. HMG Skunkworks plans to run a
series of open events over the next few months to explore with the SME community how we approach
agile delivery, procurement challenges, IP and funding models.

Part of Skunkwork’s remit is to help innovators connect with others. As such we want to open up a
debate around ICT solutions and expose government to innovation and market entrepreneurship. We
are putting in place a variety of mechanisms to achieve that culture shift.

 The DotGovLabs Innovation Hub www.direct.gov.uk/innovationhub

This has been running in Beta since Nov 2010 and now has over 1,500 members. This is a
place where innovators from all sorts of backgrounds can come together online to show
government how digital can find solutions to a number of social challenges. It’s a networking
site to connect with like minded people who maybe have the skills or contacts you are looking
for. It sets a number of challenges that government and society together face and innovators
collaborate to find solutions. There is no promise of government funding behind this one as it
seeks to support delivery of solutions outside of government. What it does do though is put
government around the table with SMEs and innovators to listen, learn and support.
 Skunkworks platform
Soon there will be a new Skunkworks (buddypress) platform that looks to provide a place
where the ICT community, both inside and outside of government ,can come together to talk
about the ICT needs currently being procured. This is entirely about conversations. This will
be a totally open site that anyone can contribute too.
  Networking events
HMG Skunkworks will look to run, through partnership with others, a number of networking
events that allow SMEs, innovators and government types to come together. The first of these
th
events will be a networking event on the afternoon of May 24 at the House of Lords hosted by
Lord Jim Knight, sponsored by Red Hat and with Tom Ball as master of ceremonies (thank you
all). At this event 150 innovative types will come together to meet new people but also to
explore what collaboratively this group can do around a number of challenge areas. If you are
coming to that event then please help us to get people talking about HMG Skunkworks by
using the twitter hashtag #skunkdo.

Until the Skunkworks site is launched you can find out more through the DotGovLabs Innovation Hub; it
is a members only site but mail DGL.Hub@directgov.gsi.gov.uk for access. You can follow us on twitter
through @DotGovLabs. We look forward to working with you more in creating the HMG Skunkworks.

Kind regards,

The HMG Skunkworks team