Which concept describes a separate small, informal, autonomous and often secretive group that focuses on breakthrough ideas for businesses?

• A. Skunkworks
• B. New Venture Team
• C. Champion
• D. Sponsor

Answer: (A)

Skunkworks describes a small, informal, highly autonomous team inside a larger organization that is dedicated to pursuing breakthrough ideas and rapid development. This setup is designed to move fast, cut through heavy bureaucracy, and often operate with a degree of secrecy to protect innovative work and maintain momentum. The team is usually cross-functional, empowered to make quick decisions, and focused on delivering early prototypes or new capabilities rather than incremental improvements. The term comes from Lockheed’s famous Advanced Development Projects, where a tight-knit group could push radical concepts forward with minimal interference. In practice, you’d see a skunkworks unit with a clear mandate, limited governance overhead, and a culture that embraces experimentation and risk. By comparison, a New Venture Team is about forming a new business initiative within the company and may still follow standard governance; a Champion advocates for a project, and a Sponsor provides resources and support, but neither implies the small, autonomous, secretly oriented group described here.