Biteback Publishing The Art of Delivery.

by Michelle Clement

Biteback Publishing The Art of Delivery ABISBOOK Biteback Publishing.

Hardcover

Reviews

[Ruairidh Maclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and good in detail. It is a little repetitive at points.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of why people skills matter and how successful delivery benefits not only from the disciplines of well designed data, targets and progress chasing but from rigorously and respectfully building a positive culture and shared sense of purpose. Sir Michael’s integrity shines through.

[Matt's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This account of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit established during Blair's second term (2001-5) centers on the meticulous, soft leadership of one man: Sir Michael Barber. Drawing on his unpublished diaries and interviews with officials in the four departments under Barber's microscope, Clement demonstrates how relentless relationship building, personal attention from Tony Blair, and careful management of tensions between No. 10 and the Treasury proved key to PMDU's success. Maintaining a sharp focus on education, immigration, crime, transport, and health also enabled the unit's achievements to entrench.

This is a useful chronology of departmental “stocktakes”, but I found much of the detail frustratingly superficial or recycled. Clement never quantifies what good "delivery" entails, or lists the 17 priorities for Barber's unit at the outset - information to help readers understand precisely what is being measured and achieved. In her telling, the PMDU is Barber, leaving unexplored his 40-plus staff: how were they employed to support departments rather than being perceived as a duplicative reporting burden? Which specific tools and methodologies were used? And taking the four pages on legacy further, how did Barber adapt "deliverology" for other countries where his approach has endured? Clement rightly highlights the human core that makes delivery work, yet provides disappointingly little context for what was clearly a seminal innovation in how the UK government can drive lasting change in our public services.

[Issy Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting both as a piece of contemporary history and a bit of a manual for getting stuff done in politics. But I struggled to understand what, in practical terms, the delivery unit were actually acting to do. Stocktakes, great, but what did that mean? What was being done on the ground? Slightly more hashed out in the health context but other areas were quite vague. And while Barber sounds like a brilliant man, I wondered why she wasn't a little more critical or analytical about the main protagonists - do we really think this was Blair/Ball/Barber's epiphany?