Policy formulation involves the development of alternatives for possible courses of government activity designed to address problems on the government agenda. Policymakers typically face short-lived windows of opportunity to come up with actionable solutions due to competition for their attention and/or the urgency of issues that they face, and such pressure can lead to erroneous choices from a long-term perspective , such as when key implementation difficulties or budget implications are not anticipated correctly in the rush to adopt a bill before a legislative deadline.

Public managers, through the agencies they serve can help to foster the development of policy ideas long before these issues reach the policy agenda, so that critical shortcomings have been more fully anticipated and the corresponding remedial measures prepared to be put in place. Public managers can also help to ensure that recognition of these policy issues is followed up in the later stages of the policy making process, as the attention of both the policy makers and the public to a particular issue may dwindle as new issues emerge.