ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a framework for understanding the implementation process as a whole. It also provides frameworks and techniques for assessing the implementation prospects of proposed policies. Policy alternatives with substantial risk of implementation failure should be redesigned to have better prospects, or at least should only be recommended with explicit consideration of their inherent risk. Building the prerequisites for evaluation into policy designs is not without cost. Such preparations as random selection of participants and collection of baseline data can involve substantial effort, perhaps consuming scarce managerial resources needed for implementation. Policies rarely specify all the elements needed for their implementation. Someone or some team must identify the necessary elements and oversee their procurement into a working assembly. If one link in a chain of behaviors connecting the policy to desired outcomes seems especially tenuous, then the policy should look for ways to make the link redundant, recognizing the trade-off between costs and the probability of successful implementation.
