2026 · Author’s version · The MJ
One-way only won’t work
Civil service secondments should become a reciprocal public service talent exchange, carrying capability and learning in both directions.
Read more →Library / Published articles and essays
Writing
Published articles and essays
Published writing, with early and superseded material labelled rather than silently erased.
Writing
Written interview · CompanySights
Talking Data: Benjamin Taylor
Joel Lister-Barker asks about frontline data, public-service transformation, and AI in consulting.
Open →2023 · written interview · TechFinitive
The future of work: Benjamin Taylor
An interview with Tim Danton about the future of work and organisations.
Open →2026 · chapter appendix
What can systems thinking and change learn to become?
An appendix to Understanding Systems to Change the World, setting out eight challenges and eight practical responses.
Open →2021 · article
Tips on making place-based working work
Practical advice on place-based public-service work.
Open →2020 · article
Capturing learning, learning network
Learning, evidence, and organisational memory.
Open →2020 · article
Scenario planning and speculative futures, learning network
Scenario planning and learning under uncertainty.
Open →2019 · article
I’m a little bit sick of paradigm shifts
An argument for greater care with grand claims of transformation.
Open →2019 · article
The nonsense of ‘chairman’
A short piece on language, convention, and power.
Open →2019 · article
Healing our divided communities
Division, community, and public leadership.
Open →2019 · article
What disconnects policy and delivery? Class warfare
The social and organisational distance between policy and delivery.
Open →2019 · article
We must find a future where systems change can take root
The conditions required for systems change.
Open →2011 · journal article
The situation facing UK public libraries and the need to change the status and approach of interlending
A peer-reviewed early article, included here as a curiosity rather than as part of the current systems canon.
Open →2026 · earlier working paper
The ladder of relationality in public service
The earlier solo paper remains available. A substantially updated, co-authored version is listed under preprints as Degrees of relationality.
Open earlier version →Looking for current unfinished work? The latest substantial manuscripts are separated into preprints and working papers.
Public-service articles and interviews
Browse the publisher-linked index of articles and interviews.
Systems practice case studies
Eight public SCiO accounts of systems work with organisations, communities, and public services.