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1. Clearly Communicated
   Pahlka uses the power of story to articulate the problems of government technology with several instances of successes. There are good people working super hard to provide gov services everyday, hamstrung by systems that grew like Kudzu. She hacks away the Kudzu to show us a path forward.

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2. enlightening, sobering, and inspiring read
   About 70% of the book is a scintillating tale of how and why the US government ceded technical power over and over again to bureaucracies and government contractors. The consequences of policy silos and outsourced technical implementation have resulted in poor outcomes over and over again.This always confused me — the US developed the internet for goodness sake.But Pahlka draws the lines and connects the dots. With this new knowledge, one can imagine how to develop technical competency within government that works “for a person.” She offers examples of how big government has in small ways evolved to work for the benefit of the people, and not for a list of antiquated requirements.It’s an enlightening, sobering, and inspiring read. I am recommending this book to anyone interested in good (or bad) policy, and also to product managers in any realm.

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3. Peanut Butter Killed Formal Rulemaking…
   If you are a Chief Information Officer, CISO, Technology Director, or leading a critical I.T. function in any public service organization (aka an NGO or Non-profit, Government Organization), you NEED to read this book. Honestly, if you are a CIO in a for-profit organization, you should probably read this book as well.Having been the CIO for a College in Crisis, the CIO of a large State Board of Elections during the Pandemic and 2020 elections cycle, and currently CIO of a county-wide Public Transit Agency, I have lived the scenarios in this book. Like Jennifer, my background prior to focusing on Public Service was in technology start-ups and enterprise innovators and to say that it was shock to the system when I decided to become a CIO for NGOs would be an understatement. Don’t get me wrong — Public service is a rewarding profession and my time spent in it as a CIO have been some of the most satisfying that I have had. But for anyone who has also worked in the private sector, the world of NGO I.T. can at times seem like one that could only be imagined by Dante. And like Virgil in Inferno, this book has the ability to be your initial guide to a better place for you and your organization.And while this book may very well end up being the best non-fiction read for me this year, I am docking it one star, possibly unfairly. The reason for the 4-star rating is that like many of the incredibly gifted technology leaders I have come to know in my 30-plus years of hanging with them, Jennifer tends to get very process and detail-oriented about how both the technology and governance sausage is made. The challenge in doing so is the challenge that has existed for Technology Leaders since organizations recognized that they couldn’t live without them. Explaining all of this to people outside of the profession is HARD. And as result, there are many sections of this read that I know from personal experience people outside of the profession will struggle with. But what Jennifer covers here is so important and difficult to explain in any other way, I concede that it may not be possible to have made this easier or better to communicate to as many people as possible. I’ll let you, dear reader, be the final judge of that.And finally, no… I will never look at Peanut Butter the same way again.Highly, Highly Recommended.

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4. This is what an expert policymaker looks like.
   Pahlka unapologetically goes deep wonk but the story of the ways America is designed to fail to serve those who need the most support is riveting and accessible.Filled with gems of wisdom from Pahlka’s personal experience in policymaking. I actually tried to skim this book; I was going to speed read for the meat and potatoes, but Pahlka’s language and clarity made me slow down and enjoy it.Catch this: “Lawmakers were furious at state-level bureaucrats for their failures during the pandemic, but it’s the lawmakers who have insisted on petty provisions like docking a claimant’s benefits because the person had a cold one day. You can have systems that do every possible thing policymakers can think of to ensure “program integrity” (in other words, making sure no one is getting a dollar more than they should) or you can have systems that scale. You can’t have both. And most of what policymakers do to ensure program integrity ends up costing far more in administration than the program saves on paying out benefits. Those costs include the failure of the system when the benefits are most needed.”Absolute fire over the failures of lawmakers to understand policy implications of theirs demands for changes during the pandemic, and real wisdom about why people do what they do. “When systems or organizations don’t work the way you think they should, it is generally not because the people in them are stupid or evil. It is because they are operating according to structures and incentives that aren’t obvious from the outside.”Holy cow, as a leader, this is golden: For people stuck in waterfall frameworks, data is not a tool in their hands. It’s something other people use as a stick to beat them with.”Also, I learned a new word: “vetocracy”. What a great explanatory term for a system in which many people must say yes to a project but only one person needs to say no in order to sink it.If you want a clear view into some of the hard technical problems facing the US and some vastly better ideas than our current processes, this is a wonderful and absorbing read.

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5. Jennifer Pahlka’s “Recoding America” is a thought-provoking and incisive examination of the challenges facing government institutions in the digital age. As the founder of Code for America, Pahlka brings a wealth of experience and insight into the systemic issues that hinder effective governance and the potential solutions to these problems.The book is structured around a series of case studies and anecdotes that illustrate the bureaucratic inertia and outdated processes that plague many government agencies. Pahlka’s writing is both engaging and accessible, making complex topics understandable for a wide audience. She deftly critiques the current state of government technology, highlighting the disconnect between the rapid advancements in the private sector and the stagnation within public institutions.One of the key strengths of “Recoding America” is Pahlka’s emphasis on the importance of human-centered design and the need for a cultural shift within government. She argues that technology alone is not the solution; instead, a fundamental rethinking of how government operates is necessary. Pahlka provides concrete examples of successful reforms and innovative approaches that have made a tangible difference in public service delivery.While the book is critical of the status quo, it is ultimately hopeful and forward-looking. Pahlka’s passion for improving government through better technology and smarter practices is evident throughout, and she offers a clear roadmap for how we can achieve meaningful change.Recoding America is a must-read for policymakers, technologists, and anyone interested in the intersection of technology and public service. It is a compelling call to action for a more efficient, responsive, and equitable government in the digital age.

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6. Everyone interested in how to make Government work should read this book. The laws and programmes mean nothing if you can’t implement them in a way that works for ordinary people. There are so many important ideas here, extremely well expressed. I’ve highlighted so many passages from this book.

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