What Jennifer Pahlka thinks about design
Author of Recoding America; founded Code for America and was US deputy chief technology officer from 2013 to 2014.
Jennifer Pahlka did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Jennifer Pahlka on design. See everyone on design
2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Jennifer Pahlka has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingWell-functioning systems succeed through continuous debugging rather than perfect initial design.
Their wordsWhen things work well, it's usually not because they were designed perfectly, but because they are constantly being debugged.
↗Checking in on Outcomes Reviewseatingpolicy.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 4 months earlier
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Their wordsThe forty-page PDF used to feel intolerable. The well-designed web form will start to feel that way too, and faster than the last transition did.
↗A (shorter) Three Horizons Framework for Government Reformeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece