With case studies including childcare, educational policies, mental health, and environmental policies, the expertise and experience of policy practitioners and academic observers offer an empirical understanding of what makes for policy work in practice. From problematising to participating, structuring to judging, the authors reflect on the significance of the practices of governing in relation to current policy issues in Australia. They also present a robust conceptual framework for making sense of how we are governed to draw meaningful inferences about policy as a practice. A practical guide for students and practitioners of policymaking, which goes beyond the policy cycle model to look at how real policies are really made and how they really work.