In Instruction to Deliver, Sir Michael Barber gives us a close look at his work as Tony Blair's "delivery" man and shares with us his philosophy of government. Barber's excitement and enthusiasm cover the pages as he weaves in his love of cricket, betting mars bars and of political biographies by Goodwin, Morris, and McCullough. For those who enjoy the philosophy of government, you will like this unique work of modern political art.

The book begins with a dramatic start as Barber quotes Blair's "scars on my back" speech to a Venture Capital Association in 1999:

You try getting change in the public sector and the public services. I bear the scars on my back after two years in government and heaven knows what it will be like after a bit longer. People in the public sector [are] more rooted in the concept that 'if it has always been done this way, it must always be done this was' than any group of people I have come across.

In comes Barber to lessen the scars, he hopes. Barber, a student of government and history, shares his insights and approach to delivering real results in crime reduction, reduction in waiting times in hospitals and better tests results in schools. This is not a testament or an analysis of numbers, but a recipe for action and change in government.

Defining the philosophy is key, of course, and what Barber asks in an early presentation to chief British officials is whether Britain should be an "enabling state" or a "minimalist state." Do we reduce tax rates and limit what we provide or make government services so great no one, even the wealthiest of the population, opt out of the service to be provide? The latter being his guide, Barber sets out to deliver demonstrable results for all citizens, irrespective of their background.

Continued accountability, a small staff and sometimes-simple solutions led to demonstrable results for Barber's Delivery Unit. A simple, but effective observation helped reduce train delay, for instance, by 10%. One evening there was a storm that dropped millions of leaves on the train tracks, making disastrous delays in the trains. Since most train delays occurred in autumn, Barber observed, he had the agency in charge design plans around this occurrence and better manage this problem. Simple, but effective, it did over the years result in 85% of the trains being on time, a 10% efficiency increase.

Despite his many successes, Barber muses about unresolved social issues that, despite the best of intentions, continue, especially in decaying urban areas. He offers, in addition to truly dysfunctional families for which the state has not yet found an answer, this view:

[t]he reason why these programmes delivered insufficient É[results] was that they were too loosely defined, gave money to local authorities and other partners without any assessment of whether they had the capacity to spend it well and failed to put in place a system for learning from experience what worked so that best practices could be adopted and spread.

Accountability is Barber' principal theme in the ability to deliver results, but in this policy area, it may need more than a mail man in a delivery unit to achieve success.

Barber has now taken his show on the road. Having left the Labour Government in 2005 he joined McKinsey and Company's London office and is now advising other governments on delivery units and sharing his insights. He includes Australia, Toronto, Indonesia and, even Los Angeles, among those who have followed his Delivery Unit model. Barber includes the Delivery Manual at the conclusion of his book. His true coup d'etat, though only figuratively, is that Scotland seeks to duplicate this effort, saying, "if there are English developments that the Scots want to emulate, we must be on to something." Who knows, maybe he is.

Kevin Quinn is a principal with the law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP practicing in the areas of education and government relations.