Developing Government Policy Capability

Executive Summary

In this book, we investigate how government policy work is conducted and the role project management plays to support this work. We use the term policy work to define the formulation, development, implementation, and delivery of government policy. From a project management perspective, policy work represents a “wicked” problem, as it is highly contested and characterized by diverse stakeholders with competing interests, with outcomes that evolve during the process of policy work. Moreover, government policy is an overtly political process that has abstract social and political objectives, elastic budgets, and indeterminate timelines.

To explore the relevance of project management in a policy context, we investigate how to ...