Senior leaders reflect on the importance of The Teal Book

Earlier this month, senior leaders in government project delivery came together to discuss the importance of The Teal Book: project delivery in government, one year on since its public launch.

The conversation came shortly after the government implemented reforms to project delivery, where departments are given greater control over spending and central functional controls are reduced.

I thought I would share with you all a bit about the day and my reflections. The day started with discussing how The Teal Book was part of a wider vision to provide an improved system of delivery. The book provides consistent expectations and a shared language impacting all aspects of the function including:

• recruitment and induction
• learning and accreditation
• assurance and evaluation

One year on since The Teal Book went public we are already seeing it starting to support people’s mobility, repeatability of practices and better delivery of outcomes.

Paul Chapman OBE, Senior Fellow at Oxford Saïd Business School, spoke about recent research that showing an empirical link between better programme and project outcomes, and good governance and management practices.

Paul anchored the day around a story from a study tour in Japan. In a meeting to plan a reciprocal visit, he suggested agreeing the outcome first and working back from there. His opposite number cut in, “You are so western. We should agree the process. The outcome will follow.”

It made people laugh, but it also made the point. In project delivery we often spend a lot of energy describing the destination, something which is incredibly important but not enough time being disciplined about the route. Paul’s message was simple and anchored in some of the latest research such as Revisiting project delivery performance: evidence from Swedish transport infrastructure and Project delivery performance: insights from English roads major schemes: good process is needed to deliver good outcomes.

That theme came up again and again. Senior leaders were not talking about The Teal Book as another document to ‘be aware of’ or to create over cumbersome bureaucracy. They were clear it is meant to be used, in the middle of real work, when things get messy. When governance feels unclear. When risks are being logged but not managed. When benefits are promised but not tracked. When a programme or project is drifting and you need to reset.

One of the things I talked about was the problem of local reinvention. Most of us have seen it: different templates, different definitions, different ways of running the same basic controls depending on the team or department. Sometimes that happens for good reasons, but often it just creates friction. It makes it harder to move people between portfolios, programmes and projects, harder to compare performance, and harder to learn what actually works. The Teal Book is trying to give us a shared code of practice.

The timing also matters. We are now operating in an environment, with more authority and accountability sitting in departments. That is a big shift. But the takeaway from the day was not “we have more freedom now”. It was with more freedom comes a bigger need for internal discipline. If we want better outcomes, we cannot rely on external controls to compensate for weak process.

We ended with a renewed energy to try the book on something real this week. Pick one pressure point such as governance, roles, risk, benefits, assurance actions and use The Teal Book as your reference point. It can take the heat out of the conversation, because it is not just ‘your view’ of what good looks like. It is the agreed code of practice.