This article discusses and aims to motivate a potential future role of engineers as developers of methods and tools to support policy development, thus extending the reach of the engineering profession further into a normative role. Policies and policy development are first analysed from the systems theory viewpoint and the ideas behind some proof-of-concept software systems supporting policy development are then introduced. Three specific stages from the policy cycle are addressed in particular: policy formulation, implementation and enforcement. The discussion of these issues is done in the context of the similarities and differences between two strands of human endeavour: process design and policy development. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.