Jennifer Pahlka – Medium

Jennifer Pahlka

Featured Book

Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

A bold call to reexamine how our government operates—and sometimes fails to—from Obama's former US Deputy CTO and the founder of Code for America.

2023

Jennifer Pahlka

Jennifer Pahlka

Stories

This must be the place

Something happened to me last week, and I’m still trying to understand what it was and what it means. Writing helps. But the narrative…

Jul 29, 2024

This must be the place

Jul 29, 2024

I wrote a policy book?? I wrote a policy book!

I spent yesterday pinching myself. (Serious brag alert here.) Ezra Klein’s interview with me dropped, and he starts out with “My pitch for…

Jun 7, 2023

I wrote a policy book?? I wrote a policy book!

Jun 7, 2023

Bad News for Procedure Fetishists

How do procedures that are not required by law or policy become required in practice? It happens because as soon as one person in a risk…

Feb 14, 2023

Bad News for Procedure Fetishists

Feb 14, 2023

Not throwing away our shot

I need to start writing again. I used to write pretty often, and then I went and wrote a book, which weirdly means I didn’t write for a…

Feb 6, 2023

Not throwing away our shot

Feb 6, 2023

Published in
GEN

Why Biden’s Executive Order on Customer Experience Could Be a Game-Changer

Unlike prior initiatives to simply digitize the bureaucracy, this one could actually improve access to government services

Dec 14, 2021

Why Biden’s Executive Order on Customer Experience Could Be a Game-Changer

Dec 14, 2021

Slow Train

The people in sleeping compartments on the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles see each other mostly in the dining car, which…

Jul 12, 2021

Slow Train

Jul 12, 2021

Published in
OneZero

Pitting Private Tech Against the Public Sector is Bad for Everyone

How Marc Andreessen’s criticism of governmental responses to Covid misses the mark

Jun 29, 2021

Pitting Private Tech Against the Public Sector is Bad for Everyone

Jun 29, 2021

Published in
OneZero

How the Government’s Multibillion-Dollar Plan to Modernize Its Tech Could Go Horribly Wrong

Our ‘Kill It with Fire’ Moment

Apr 20, 2021

How the Government’s Multibillion-Dollar Plan to Modernize Its Tech Could Go Horribly Wrong

Apr 20, 2021

What on earth is SME-QA and why should you care about it?

A stunning announcement about how federal government hires recently passed largely unnoticed. Only in the age of vaccine rollout drama…

Feb 4, 2021

What on earth is SME-QA and why should you care about it?

Feb 4, 2021

Published in
U.S. Digital Response

What states must do about Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

Tens of millions of people are suddenly out of work. Your Lyft driver, your hairdresser, your barista, the waiters at your favorite…

Apr 17, 2020

What states must do about Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

Apr 17, 2020

Digital is Not Always Better Than Paper

AKA Help me with my book!

Feb 4, 2020

Digital is Not Always Better Than Paper

Feb 4, 2020

Published in
Code for America Blog

When you think end of year giving, think about democracy

This is the time of year when many people make donations to charities. This year it’s more overwhelming than ever. There are so many needs…

Dec 19, 2019

When you think end of year giving, think about democracy

Dec 19, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

The year in review at Code for America

I founded Code for America in 2009 with the hope that we could use the principles and practices of the digital age to help government work…

Dec 19, 2019

Dec 19, 2019

Delivery-Driven Policy

Policy designed for and in the digital age

Nov 6, 2019

Delivery-Driven Policy

Nov 6, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

In Memoriam: Carl V. Lewis

We found out yesterday that we lost Carl V Lewis, the founder of Open Savannah, a Code for America Brigade. Carl was a leader in our…

Oct 20, 2019

In Memoriam: Carl V. Lewis

Oct 20, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

AI Deserts

Yes, it’s true: Artificial Intelligence is coming and it’s going to change the world around us. Actually, AI and ML (machine learning) are…

Oct 7, 2019

AI Deserts

Oct 7, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

Making Government Work: The Next Ten Years (and some news)

In July 2009, over beers with a friend who worked for the City of Tucson, I asked “what if there was something called Code for America…

May 23, 2019

Making Government Work: The Next Ten Years (and some news)

May 23, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

California’s New Digital Agenda

Last Friday, Calif. Governon Gavin Newsom published a budget summary for his 2019–2020 budget that includes a new Office of Digital…

Jan 15, 2019

California’s New Digital Agenda

Jan 15, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

Day one for Governor Newsom opens the door on procurement

Today is California Governor Gavin Newsom’s first full day in office, and he’s chosen to spend it visiting a fire-ravaged area of the…

Jan 9, 2019

Day one for Governor Newsom opens the door on procurement

Jan 9, 2019

Published in
Code for America Blog

Should Governor-Elect Newsom create a California Digital Service?

by Jennifer Pahlka, Code for America, and David Eaves, Harvard Kennedy School

Nov 28, 2018

Should Governor-Elect Newsom create a California Digital Service?

Nov 28, 2018

Jennifer Pahlka

Jennifer Pahlka

Book Author

Author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better, Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists

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