Kelly’s rules got their start on the XP-80 project in 1943, but it wasn’t until the early 1950’s that they were formalized and set in place as the Skunk Works®’ rules of operation.

The other day I was looking at a proposal for a project I finished a few months ago. The result, by my measure and by the client's, was successful. But guess what? The process I so reassuringly put forward at the outset had almost nothing to do with the way the project actually went. What would happen, I wonder, if I actually told the truth about what happens in a design process?