We do brilliant things: Becky Wood on the people behind government project delivery

To mark International Project Management Day, we spoke to Becky Wood, Head of the Government Project Delivery Function and Chief Executive of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), about what makes government project delivery special, why we should talk more about success, and what excites her about the future of the profession.

Across government, project delivery professionals work on everything from infrastructure and defence to public services and digital transformation. Behind every project are people bringing together different skills and professions to solve difficult problems and deliver better outcomes for the public.

For International Project Management Day, we sat down with Becky to talk about the function, the people who make it work and why there’s plenty for the project delivery community to be proud of.

Where are you seeing the best of government project delivery today?

I think some of the multidisciplinary work happening across government is really encouraging.

We’re seeing some great conversations between Government Project Delivery and our digital colleagues about how AI, data and digital are becoming part of the way we think about delivery. I’m also working increasingly closely with colleagues in commercial to ensure we’re joining up our thinking and bringing the right expertise together from the outset.

This matters because it’s very rare that the things we’re delivering sit neatly within one profession. We’re bringing together different skills and perspectives, so the way we plan and support projects incorporates that diversity of thought.

You can see the same thing happening across sectors and places. For example, in Devonport and Barrow, work with defence and Homes England is bringing together major defence investment with the regeneration of the town centre, showing how investment in infrastructure can support wider benefits for a place and its community.

That’s something I love to see. Government project delivery is at its best when we’re working together around the outcome we want to achieve, rather than seeing the problem through the lens of just one organisation or profession.

And I think we should talk about those successes more.

As project professionals, we’re naturally problem solvers. We see something that could be better and immediately want to fix it. That’s a good instinct, and learning lessons really matters. But it does mean we can sometimes spend much more time talking about what hasn’t gone well than what has.

We do brilliant things across government. We should be willing to celebrate them and learn from what goes well, just as seriously as we learn from the things that don’t.

You’ve worked across the public and private sectors. What makes public sector delivery special?

For me, a big part of it is the social value we can create.

Of course, private sector projects create public value too. But in government we have a huge opportunity to think about the wider benefits that can come from public investment.

That might be jobs and skills. It might be apprenticeships and career pathways. It can be what an investment does for a particular place or community, as well as delivering the core thing that the project set out to achieve.

I’ve seen that personally. I still get a bit of a thrill out of travelling on the Elizabeth Line.  I’m not going to lie, it’s quite cool that my daughter knows I was heavily involved in the delivery of it, because it’s real. It makes a difference to her, her friends and the way people move around London.

Of course, no one person delivers something like that. Government projects involve thousands of people and huge amounts of work. As a sponsor, you’re one part of that. But it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of something that will have a meaningful impact for years to come.

There’s also something distinctive about leading projects in government.

We’re spending public money, so the scrutiny we face is entirely right and proper. But it can also be demanding. Sponsors and senior responsible owners need a particular kind of resilience.

We also serve political leaders, and projects regularly need to respond with agility to changes of administration and changes in priorities. We need to understand what ministers need from us and be responsive, while maintaining enough stability around the project to deliver efficiently.

That’s quite a particular skill and a challenge. And I see project delivery professionals across government doing it every day.

How do we give project professionals more confidence to lead?

Trust matters enormously.

I genuinely believe in trusting your professional judgement and listening to your instincts. Just as importantly, leaders need to trust their teams and make that trust visible, including when we’re under pressure. That’s easier to say than it is to do. I don’t get it right every day I’m sure.

But we need to create an environment where people feel able to speak up, whatever their grade, seniority or role. The quietest person in the room might have worked on a project with exactly the problem you’re now facing. They need to feel safe enough to say so.

The same applies to risk.

Spotting a problem we didn’t anticipate doesn’t suddenly make us less good at our jobs. Quite the opposite. Good project leadership means being curious about risk, understanding what’s changing and working out what we’re going to do about it. And sometimes that means giving uncomfortable messages.

Project news isn’t always good news. We need to be candid with senior leaders when we can see trouble ahead. That’s not simply putting a problem on the table. It’s saying: here’s what we’re seeing, here’s what we’re doing about it, and here’s where we may need your help.

That’s part of professional leadership.

How does good project delivery build public trust?

It starts with being really clear about why we’re doing something.

The benefits in a business case can’t be something we write down and then leave in a drawer. Those benefits are the reason we’re doing the project. They’re the outcomes we’re trying to achieve. So, everyone on the team needs to understand them.

That affects how we engage with stakeholders, how we work with communities and users, how we go to market and how we make decisions throughout delivery. We should be asking from the very beginning what people need to see change and how the project will help achieve that.

Jobs and skills are particularly important to me. Infrastructure investment can create genuine opportunities for people, both locally and nationally. We’re already seeing projects coming together around skills and training, including pathways into areas such as welding across the nuclear sector.

But building trust also means being honest about how we’re doing.

We need to be transparent about where things haven’t gone as planned and what we’re changing as a result. At the same time, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about success.

There are thousands of people putting enormous effort into some of the UK’s most complex programmes. Their work matters.

Public trust isn’t built by pretending that projects never face problems. It’s built by being clear about why we’re doing something, being honest about progress and showing people the difference that good delivery can make.

What excites you about the future of government project delivery?

Probably three things.

First, the work we do remains incredibly important. Infrastructure, service transformation and defence are all central to how government wants to create change and improve people’s everyday lives. That means project delivery has a really important role to play.

Second, I’m excited by the opportunities we’re getting from technology, data and digital working. When I meet our fast streamers and teams across NISTA, I see people thinking differently about the tools we have available to tackle complicated delivery problems. The more tools we have in the box, the better.

And third, I’m excited about the people. Complex problems need different skills and perspectives. They need people who can remain curious under pressure. They need teams bringing together different professions and different backgrounds around a shared purpose.

I want Government Project Delivery to keep creating space for that. For people who are just beginning their careers alongside those who have been doing this for years. And I want our teams to reflect the places and people we’re here to serve.

There’s a wider point here too about what we mean by project delivery.

Our profession touches economic infrastructure, social infrastructure, defence and service transformation. And increasingly, I think we should recognise the contribution our profession can make to the assets and services we already rely on, not only to building something new.

Looking after and improving our existing infrastructure can involve incredibly difficult delivery problems. It needs people who can understand the wider system, bring different skills together and work out how and where an intervention will make the biggest difference.

Those are project delivery skills too.

That’s why I’m excited about where the profession goes next. There are difficult problems to solve, certainly. But we have talented people across government with the skills and experience to solve them.

NISTA is the home of Government Project Delivery, but the function and profession belongs to all of us across government. I want it to be a welcoming, collegiate home which helps project delivery professionals come together, share what works and tackle our common challenges.

On International Project Management Day, that’s probably the message I’d most like people across the profession to hear.

Be proud of what you do. Be curious. Trust the people around you. Talk honestly about what’s difficult, but don’t forget to celebrate what’s going well.

Because the work you do really does make a difference.