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Jennifer Pahlka

What Jennifer Pahlka thinks about government

@jennifer-pahlka · 20 positions · On ppll ↗

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 government. See everyone on government

13 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Jennifer Pahlka has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingRegulatory delays are driven more by the incentives built into the bureaucracy administering the rules than by the substance of the rules themselves.

    Their wordsThe difference is mostly the delay, which stems not necessarily from the regulation itself, but from the incentives in the machinery that administers it.

    ↗Weekend short read: Fire is a metaphor, until its noteatingpolicy.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  2. 2 days earlier

  3. Our readingLegislators generally lose interest in an issue once the political work of passing a law is finished.

    Their wordsour lawmakers tend to stop paying attention once the political work is done.

    ↗Checking in on Outcomes Reviewseatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  5. Our readingTelevised hearings built for viral clips are the wrong venue for honest accountability conversations.

    Their wordsthe time to make that point is not during a televised hearing when everyone is trying for a viral clip.

    ↗Checking in on Outcomes Reviewseatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  6. 13 days earlier

  7. Our readingPhilanthropy can never operate at the scale of government, no matter how well-funded it becomes.

    Their wordsEven with the influx of funding that may come with the AI companies' IPOs, philanthropy can never act at the scale of government.

    ↗Thinking the unthinkableeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  9. Our readingWhen institutional transformation keeps failing, leaders should start fresh with new entities rather than keep reforming the old ones.

    Their wordswe've both come to believe that when transformation fails repeatedly, it's time for something different, and one of the tools that leaders need to add to their tool belts (and probably use a lot more frequently than they do today), is starting fresh, creating new entities (agencies and departments, for example) and either endowing them with new authorities or transferring authorities from legacy institutions to the new ones.

    ↗Thinking the unthinkableeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  11. Our readingEven when there is political will for reform, administrative agencies will not reform themselves without outside pressure.

    Their wordsThere is suddenly political will and leadership on these issues, which makes change now possible, but the administrative state is not going to reform itself.

    ↗Thinking the unthinkableeatingpolicy.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  12. 3 weeks earlier

  13. Our readingCompensation is not the core challenge of civil service systems.

    Their wordsWhile I don't think compensation is the core challenge of civil service systems, of course it matters.

    ↗North Carolina’s bold move on civil serviceeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  15. Our readingAI is raising public expectations of government service at the same time it changes what government must deliver.

    Their wordsEvery state, and the federal government right along with them, is about to be asked to do a lot more than keep the lights on.

    ↗North Carolina’s bold move on civil serviceeatingpolicy.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  16. 4 weeks earlier

  17. Our readingGovernment controls both the resources and the legitimacy needed for large-scale change.

    Their wordsGovernment is where the literal money is (money that could often go much further if we fixed what's wrong with government), but it's also where the impact is. And it's where the legitimacy is.

    ↗Philanthropy’s Willie Sutton Problemeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  19. Our readingWhen government cannot keep pace with technology, the companies building it make the consequential decisions instead of elected representatives.

    Their wordsWhen government can't act at the speed of the technology, the consequential decisions still get made, but by the companies building it rather than the public's representatives.

    ↗Philanthropy’s Willie Sutton Problemeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  20. 3 weeks earlier

  21. Our readingA well-functioning reform team within a bureaucracy can end up excusing the lack of deeper structural change.

    Their wordsIronically, an effective digital service can provide just enough success to excuse the lack of true reform.

    ↗The Digital Service Was Never the Pointeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  23. Our readingA digital-service team embedded in an unchanged agency produces no lasting change once it moves on.

    Their wordsA digital service team that works with an agency that continues to hire and manage for the same jobs they did last year, and structures the work in the same way it did last year, is just a tourist.

    ↗The Digital Service Was Never the Pointeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  24. 5 weeks earlier

  25. Our readingAI is raising the baseline of what counts as acceptable public service, not just disrupting government from outside.

    Their wordsAI is not only an exogenous shock that government will have to absorb. It is also moving the bar on what counts as acceptable service in the first place.

    ↗A (shorter) Three Horizons Framework for Government Reformeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece