Articles
I usually write about government, politics, the civil service and making organisations better.
This is an incomplete list of the things that got published.
The Guardian
GDS was once truly world-leading. What happened? (September 2020)
A post-truth civil service? That way madness lies (January 2017)
Whitehall's chance to shed its reputation as elitist and aloof (June 2016)
Bin the paper, kill off tick boxes – how to fix civil service appraisals (March 2016)
Spectator
The Bluffocracy: how Britain ended up being run by elegant chancers (August 2018)
Big Issue
The rise of the buffoons (August 2018)
Times Higher Education
Change is coming, whether higher education likes it or not (September 2024)
Prospect
The Brexit department should never have been created (July 2018)
New Statesman
Who runs the country during a general election? (May 2017)
Whitehall woes: why is no-one talking about our crumbling civil service? (April 2017)
Nature
Making digital government a better government (November 2018, quotes)
GovInsider
If you want citizens to trust you, reform procurement (May 2018)
Why digital government must come from the centre (April 2018)
How to disrupt inertia in government (February 2018)
Is AI smart enough to see past its own hype? (January 2018)
Apolitical
The disruptive digital institutions pulling government into the internet era (May 2018)
Civil Service World
Test of the best (July 2023)
How GDS conquered the world (March 2020)
By the (Green) Book (November 2019)
Change is Cummings (September 2019)
On Lord Adonis and why politicians need to be more curious (March 2019)
New Year, New Whitehall (February 2019)
Lurking your way to the top: life as a private secretary (January 2019)
What’s measured gets managed (December 2018)
Calling out the bluffers: the challenge for the civil service (October 2018)
The civil service used to subsidise artists, now it’s consultants. Are services better for it? (June 2018)
Listening to disruptors to achieve lasting change (May 2018)
Shared services: another embarrassing failure? (April 2018)
The dismembering of the Government Digital Service is underway (February 2018)
What's in a Whitehall name change? (January 2018)
Whitehall's reasons to be cheerful in 2018 (December 2017)
Sir Jeremy will see you now (November 2017)
The civil service is in crisis. This must not go to waste. (October 2017)
BEIS will pay to know why staff are leaving? (September 2017)
Solving Whitehall's pay puzzle (August 2017)
A problem with minority government (July 2017)
Not picking up the Slack (June 2017)
Meeting the new Minister (May 2017)
Preparing for an election (April 2017)
Fixing submissions (April 2017)
Put spending reviews in the open (March 2017)
The Civil Service Workforce Plan doesn't go far enough (February 2017)
'Enemies of the people'? (January 2017)
Whitehall's Brexit challenge (December 2016)
Churn rewards managers, not leaders (November 2016)
Stop obsessing about business cases (October 2016)
Watching the middle-aged spread (September 2016)
GDS shake-up a victory for officials at the expense of citizens (August 2016)
Lessons from Prof David MacKay (May 2016)
The best leaders value trust, not grades (April 2016)
What degree do you need to get to the top? (February 2016)
Total Politics
What Whitehall really makes of May’s minority government (July 2017)
Medium
29 things that cost less than government IT (September 2016)
Losing one is misfortune. Two? (August 2016)
Why trust beats hierarchy (March 2016)
Bad service design is not a strategy (November 2015)