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The Original Skunk Works – Nickolas Means | The Lead Developer UK 2017

LeadDev · 2.4M views · 2017-07-05 · 53:09

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Overview

Nickolas Means tells the story of Lockheed's Skunk Works and how its engineers built the U-2, SR-71 and F-117 under tight deadlines and budgets. He draws lessons for modern software teams.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as a well-done history of Skunk Works, popping up in SR-71 threads.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2017–2021

Topics

Software practice, open source & careersAviation & aerospace engineeringManagement, leadership & organizations
Search by tags
skunk workssr-71lockheedengineering managementaerospace

What people said

sdoering · 2021-11 · Recommendation

If anyone is interested in learning more about the history of the SR-71 and Skunk Works there is a great talk on YouTube [1]. [1]: [VIDEO]

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wp381640 · 2020-09 · Recommendation

This list with no context is bordering on useless. Here are some channels i've watched and enjoyed: 1. interviewing.io - they do tech interviews with big5/6 tech co candidates and step through them: [LINK] 2. CS Dojo - ex-googler who steps through CS topics (data structures, algorithms) at the intermediate level and applications in python + javascript: [LINK] 3. Academind - Heard of tech x and have no idea what it is? Chances are there is a 20-30 min video on this channel explaining it clearly. He also does longer form "build x app" videos: [LINK] 4. comma.ai / George Hotz - ML + AI livestreams from geohot: [LINK] 5. Lex Fridman - ML, AI, python and tons of awesome interviews with luminaries: [LINK] 6. Joma Tech - data science, big companies / startups as a dev and some funny vids: [LINK] 7. Wes Bos - decent css explainer vids for whenever you're _how do i align the fucking boxes_ + react / js [LINK] 8. Rect conf - Sophie and Dan's presentations are great: [LINK] 9. Nickolas Means - not a channel but two presentations that are good: 9.1 How to crash a plane : [LINK] 9.2 The original skunk works: [VIDEO] There are tons of shitty tutorial videos and channels to avoid if you just rely on search (the comments are full of what appear to be dev contractors out of their depth begging for solutions)

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lentil · 2017-11 · Recommendation

Agreed. I would also recommend this conference talk on the subject by Nickolas Means, it was very well done: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by LeadDev, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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