I was working on a public sector tender last week. I’ll be working on another one this week for a different organisation for something completely different. Each of them will take tens of hours to complete, and there is nil guarantee we’ll get the work from it.

What matters is that, by spending so much time on them, I’m able to hone, craft, and explain EXACTLY what I do, I’ll be better prepared for the next one which comes along.

I know there are people in the learning sector who shy away from public sector work; it’s believed to be over specified (partly true), over structured (not really), and a difficult sector to work with (completely wrong).

Forcing you to reflect on what you do and how it might look to other people is a challenge we don’t do often enough. Look at the market and the associated tenders and see how you’d compare.