Discovery is often misunderstood. People may want to treat it like a checklist to get through before the real work starts, something to tick off so you can get to delivery.

A good discovery will help you learn what the people you want to use your product or service are trying to achieve, or areas to improve things if something already exists.

Delivery managers can seem a bit abstract if you’ve never worked closely with one. Some people assume we’re here to manage tasks boards or chase deadlines. Others just aren’t sure what we do at all.

Over the past month I’ve volunteered a couple of hours with Skills for Hire Atlantic, doing two 1:1 mentoring sessions with people on their digital skills programmes. Skills for Hire Atlantic is a free, fully online, cohort-based training initiative that helps residents of Atlantic Canada develop the digital and professional skills.

For the past nine months, I have been working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as Head of Delivery in the Funding Service team. It has been a period of deep immersion in the world of grant funding: a fast-paced, high-stakes environment supporting policy teams to get vital applications out into the world.

If I’m asked what good delivery actually looks like, I think about a situation that was tough and how I hopefully made it a bit better. I don’t think about a a thing going to plan or a perfectly written task on a manicured board. I do think about someone feeling comfortable to send a message at 8.59am or 4.59pm asking ‘have you got a minute?’.

Over the last couple of years more people have been asking me: is delivery management for me? It’s a brilliant role, but it’s not the right fit for everyone. This post is a collection of thoughts and advice from my 20 years in the job, written to help you work out whether delivery might be your thing, and how to get started if it is.