Many years ago I was a (willing, honestly) participant in a programme at the London School of Economics looking at public sector planning and strategy. Led by Michael Barzelay, we reached two important conclusions that are still very useful to practice today.

The first is that in any strategy development exercise, the process of engagement on ‘strategic issues' is equally important, if not more so, than the end product. The second was that what Barzelay described as ‘backcasting from the future' should be an essential tool for practising public managers.