This theme-based book review considers three recent titles related to competence, from practitioner and scholarly perspectives: Administrative Competence: Reimagining Administrative Law, by Elizabeth Fisher and Sidney A. Shapiro; Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Management and Policy, edited by Eran Vigoda-Gadot and Dana R. Vashdi; and Politics, Policy and Public Administration in Theory and Practice: Essays in Honour of Professor John Wanna, edited by Andrew Podger, Michael de Percy, and Sam Vincent.