Jennifer Pahlka Calls for Change in How Government Does Tech

Anya Schiffrin, a Senior Lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, reviews Pahlka’s new 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. Metropolitan Books, June 13, 2023. For anyone who would like to see the US government become more reliable, efficient and streamlined (more like Estonia!) by deploying the best of what tech has to offer when delivering services, Jennifer Pahlka’s book is gripping and important reading. A former Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House during the Obama years, Pahlka founded Code for America, a non-profit which helps governments deliver services, and helped found the U.S. Digital Service.  A key member of the “govtech” movement, Pahlka explains the failures of government service delivery online and what it takes to improve it. Her book is more than just a guide to how technology is designed by government. Pahlka provides insights into how bureaucracies work, and what needs to change. Along the way, Pahlka recounts hair-raising horror stories from the inside. One example: during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the state of California hired more help to push out unemployment checks quickly, officials realized the processes were so cumbersome that hiring more people actually slowed the system down. Pahlka was also in the White House when healthcare.gov, the famous Obamacare website, was rescued after it crashed shortly after its launch in 2013. Her explanation of…Jennifer Pahlka Calls for Change in How Government Does Tech