Our future depends on our ability to implement >

“Jennifer Pahlka has written one of the best policy books I have ever read.” — Ezra Klein, The New York Times

While factions fight about policy, it’s delivery we need now.

But our government is stuck in a rigid, Industrial-era culture in which policy is disconnected from the details of implementation — how it is delivered to the public.

Despite this, creative and courageous public servants are learning how to make a government that works for people.

We should listen to them.

Testimonials

“Everyone can learn something from this wonderful book. The future of our society—and even our planet—depends on our ability to recode the American government.”

— Charles Duhigg, Author of The Power of Habit

“Recoding America should be on the reading list of every person who wants to make a difference in the world and every public servant who wants to make government work.”

— Anne-Marie Slaughter

“Pahlka’s call to action should be in the front of the minds of every policymaker.”

— Garlin Gilchrist, Lt Governor of Michigan

“Recoding America will rattle some cages, but Pahlka’s engaging and vivid accounts of policy rhetoric crashing onto the rocks of implementation will convince you those cages need a little rattling.”

— Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

Software and government have one thing in common: they are made by and for people.

We get to decide how they work.

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THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Pahlka

Jennifer Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Federation of American Scientists and an advisor to the Abundance Network. She founded Code for America in 2010 and led the organization for ten years. In 2013, she took a leave of absence to serve as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama and helped found the U.S. Digital Service. She served on the Defense Innovation Board, started by the late Ash Carter, under Presidents Obama and Trump. At the start of the pandemic, she also co-founded U.S. Digital Response, which helps government meet the needs of the public with volunteer tech support. She has received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was named by Wired as one of the 25 people who has most shaped the past 25 years. She serves on the boards of US Digital Response, America’s Frontier Fund, and the Volcker Alliance. Jennifer is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Virginia with her husband, Tim O’Reilly.

For more of Jennifer’s writing, go here.

For high-res photos and a more detailed bio of Jennifer go here. She is represented by the Macmillan Speakers Bureau and the Washington Speakers Bureau.