

Ask HN: How do you pitch a skunk-works project once the proof of concept works? - ineedcaffeine

I've been working on a skunk-works (unofficial side project, developed entirely outside of the wall) project for awhile with a good friend, and its getting to the point where we want to take it to an A/B test/weblab of some sort.<p>What are the best steps forward to minimize push-back from the current owners of the UI? Unlike the mac graphing calculator guy, we are both currently employed &#38; wish to avoid being fired for ruffling the wrong feathers.<p>Is there any CYA stuff which we should do first?<p>Do you have any advice on how to keep someone from running away with our project and claiming credit?<p>Besides a working demo, what else should we prepare?<p>Should we get some sort of user testing done first outside of the company, or would that be more likely to be viewed in a negative light?<p>Whom would you first approach (own manager, manager of the group for whom the skunk-works project would change, VP, CEO,etc.)?<p>posted with a one-time account for anonymity. Thanks for the advice &#38; sorry for the wall of text.
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etm117
Unfortunately, every company has different politics that affects the answer to
your question. Without knowing the politics of your company no one can
properly answer. And even if we did, it would still probably be a "gut
feeling" type of answer. So with that said...

The way I would do it at my company (which has politics that could get you in
trouble, even if what you did is better than what currently exists) then I
would recommend starting with a trusted advisor. Do you have a friend inside
the company who has been there for a long time that you trust? If so, approach
them and ask them what they think. Having been there for a while, they
probably would know the best approach and maybe could use their seniority and
good will to pointing it out for you.

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ratsbane
If in testing the system you used any data which may be interpreted as
belonging to the company then be very, very careful. Hopefully you haven't,
but if you have then you might want to delete all traces of that data before
presenting it.

If you're a contractor be very careful to document that you did none of the
work on company time or equipment.

If the company doesn't want anything to do with your project then they may
prevent you doing anything else with it.

If your friend is not associated with the company then you may want to
introduce him as the author of the project. Ethically you can't conceal your
beneficial interest in the project, e.g. if the company wants to buy it, but
you might want to have someone not associated with the company be the point
man. That may also make it more likely that you can reuse the project for
something else.

Your good work is probably going to make someone at the company look foolish
and those people may make big problems for you. You really need to find some
sympathetic and wise person with authority to champion it. And if it's a
typical big corporation that's going to be hard.

It's very unfortunate that large companies are not more receptive to what is
essentially free R&D. What you've done shows an exemplary interest in going
beyond the minimum requirements.

I wrote this assuming that you're working for a large corporate machine but
maybe that's not the case.

Good luck!

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SandB0x
Zed shaw talks at length about (roughly) this kind of thing in his talk "The
ACL is Dead". Tbe video is at:

[http://blog.cusec.net/2009/01/05/zed-shaw-the-acl-is-dead-
cu...](http://blog.cusec.net/2009/01/05/zed-shaw-the-acl-is-dead-cusec-2008/)

And there are summaries in the comments here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=420650>

I wrote a few internal tools to automate various bits of drudgery at my last
workplace. Nobody important wanted to know, but I and many other developers
were saved hours of mindless work a week, and that makes me happy.

Had I re-written one of our actual products, the important people would have
cared - but not in a positive way - and the developers wouldn't have cared.

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ramanujan
The fact that you are asking these questions indicates that the company you
are working at is probably not a good place for innovation.

You might think about quitting and spinning it out yourself.

