Green book

I’ve started writing a full business case. I’m calling it that as I have already finished the outline business case, a twenty page or so document describing an idea that I have been working on for a couple of years. These things take time!

The business case is aiming to attract both public and private money and, following advice form central government I am using the government’s Guide To Developing The Project Business Case, sometimes known as the Treasury Green Book.

It is a daunting prospect. The contents alone cover several pages and it is likely that the business case will end up about 150 pages. As I sit at my Chromebook, fingers poised above the keyboard, my heart sinks with the amount of work ahead. Anyway, it should keep me off the streets for a while.

At times like these, I think back to a book I read many years ago and have blogged about before.  ‘The oarsome adventures of a fat boy rower’ by Kevin Biggar, tells the tale of how he went from being a couch potato to winning an Atlantic rowing race. 

My efforts in writing a document cannot in any way compare to the prospect of rowing across the Atlantic for 40 days and nights yet I am drawn back to the book. In it Biggar describes how he and his teammates kept going, especially rowing in the dark when completely out of sight of land. With every stroke they realised that they were one more pull of the oars further away from the start and one more closer to their goal. 

Back to my task then. At the moment I am still in sight of Gran Canaria. The whole business case lies ahead of me but with every word I type I pull a little further away from the start and a little closer to the completed tome.