The Westminster Tradition

We want to make lasting and meaningful change, but how do we get there? In this special episode Caroline interviews Frances Foster-Thorpe and Jason Tabarias about their insights into the skills and frameworks needed to tackle large, complex and ambitious reform.
We cover: 
Biting off what you can chew by picking two of three factors: volume, cost, quality
Examples of big Australian reforms that did and didn't hit the mark
Lining up stakeholder expectations, the authorising environment, and operational capability
Stretching the political window of opportunity by looking up and out
Why sequencing can be a more productive conversation than prioritisation
Proposals that are needs or community-led, evidence based and implementation-ready 
Making cross-system collaboration work: everyone is a colleague, everyone has valuable knowledge, and everyone is responsible for doing as much as we can 
Tips for system diplomats and working with system diplomats
Mark Moore's strategic triangle 
The Three Horizons Framework
Geoff Mulgan 'The Art of Public Strategy'
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

Buy a sports car or start a podcast. It all could have gone the way of a new hobby, with audio kit languishing in a drawer. Instead, this podcast has become a study and celebration of the tricky craft of public service, and it's a source of pure joy for us. 
Reflecting on three years of TWT: 
Humble and haphazard beginnings
What’s changed since the Robodebt Royal Commission 
Our favourite interviews, scandals, episodes
Lifting the veil on moments of chaos
Our favourite moments with listeners (and do we need an identifier for the TWT listener cohort?)
Learnings on the journey and things we’ve changed our minds on
And that’s a wrap for 2025. Till next year!
Alison listing all the places we’ve “recorded” sounds remarkably like Shaggy… https://youtu.be/p4qqOHllgps?si=uEHlcD6JMW9Jabng 
‘Abundance: How We Build a Better Future’ by Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson: https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Ezra-Klein,-Derek-Thompson-Abundance-9781805226055
Nigella Lawson reading ‘How to eat’ https://www.audible.com.au/pd/How-to-Eat-The-Pleasures-and-Principles-of-Good-Food-Audiobook/1473567351
Colin Firth’s indecent gravel: https://www.amazon.com/The-End-of-Affair-Graham-Greene-audiobook/dp/B0081293SO 
Anything narrated by Richard Roxburgh https://www.audible.com.au/search?searchNarrator=Richard+Roxburgh&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=C0M8084B840VVEERZRJ5&plink=IArL51tFosgDIpzy&pageLoadId=FlLq75E1cuzEn4oS&creativeId=adcc4fec-4d90-49d1-997e-8be21d68ce7f&ref=a_search_c3_lNarrator_1_2_1
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

In this Christmas special, Caroline, Alison and Danielle unwrap the public service’s most gear-grinding buzzwords, what they’re supposed to mean and what they have now quietly become. With words crowdsourced from the fine listeners of TWT, we talk:
Big serious words and how their technical meanings have drifted
The corporate visitors who arrived and never left
Words that hide fear or indecision 
How co-design can be a handbrake, and why government struggles to set boundaries on what is genuinely up for shaping.
Word of the year: nature-positive 
The brilliant book that Alison refers to is ‘The Right Kind of Wrong’ by Amy Edmondson: https://www.dymocks.com.au/right-kind-of-wrong-by-amy-edmondson-9781847943781

This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

Your shiny new promotion turns out to be more than you bargained for. 
In this scenario-based "Imagine if..." episode, Caroline and Danielle assume the role of a newly promoted manager who steps into a team they didn’t choose and some character-building challenges. 
⚠️ Mild trigger warning for the depiction of toxic colleagues - we've all had one!
We cover: 
Walking the floor and gathering intel
How to give the boss response to a credibility challenge
Clarifying the authorising environment 
Lifting work quality 
When to whip out the whiteboard to create a two-way learning exercise 
Setting a vision and direction for the team that’s sensitive to the past 
Responding to bad behaviour that’s not quite misconduct
To report or not to report; the risks of weighing in
Good egg managers in the Re Meagher case
https://hearsay.org.au/graduate-lawyer-fails-in-fair-work-act-bullying-claim/
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

When politics meets process, what’s a conscientious public servant to do? This “Imagine if…” episode puts Alison and Danielle in the shoes of a project manager caught between legality, leadership and media heat — and explores what good judgment looks like when everyone’s waiting to be told what’s important.
The first in an “Imagine if…” series as requested by listeners — exploring the messy, real-world dilemmas of public administration.
We cover:
·      Managing up and whether to buy into your boss’ crazy
·      The hurry up and wait of briefing on options 
·      Verbal directions and when to turn them into written confirmation 
·      When to seek advice on legality 
·      Documentation! And the safeguard of personal file noting
·      The fallacy of ‘not my job’ when every problem for government is a problem for everyone in government
·      Having multiple comms plans and when not to pick up the phone
·      The impacts of external pressure on internal process. 
·      Trap for the young players: informal intel travels very quickly 
·      Who gets to make the decision?
·      Building in agility to allow for changing priorities
Shout out to the  Normal Gossip podcast for inspiring this episode: https://open.spotify.com/show/0KVZ16mLZ1bbNlnKemYTzm 
This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.
Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at [email protected].

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!