Book excerpt: You have a wonderful idea and want to make it real. What are the first steps? Many forces act on you to slow you down, but your imagination, creativity, and passion needs to get over these "speed bumps." Let's look at a time in history when great ideas became great products like the SR-71 Blackbird. How did an organization shrug off all the problems associated with Mach 3 travel?This book is divided into three sections. The first section considers what makes a creative organization. The second section investigates how Skunk Works operated during the Cold War. This was a time that produced extraordinary innovations. It was a time that had a beginning and end, so we can look at it with a historical lens that is not swayed by the latest design guru or technology fad. The final section provides practical advice on how to design quickly and safely.This book is a follow-up to the author's "Engineering for Industrial Designers and Inventors," which considered engineering principles that guide a designer during the process of design. INTENSE DESIGN moves to the historical moderation and guidance of a successful design operation, and practical advice for making designs come to reality. This section includes recommendations on wide-ranging topics such as materials, tolerances, ergonomics, and ethnography.