If there’s one thing government needs desperately, it’s the ability to quickly try something, pivot when necessary, and build complex systems by starting with simple systems that work and evolving from there, not the other way around. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
Government technology processes are mind-boggling long and complicated. A procurement process alone is typically two years, and that doesn’t account for the time required to actually build the product. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
Before I started Code for America, I spent my career around startups. First it was game developers, small teams trying to make hits in a tough business. Then, when I started working on the Web 2.0 events, it was web startups during times of enormous opportunity and investment. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
Now, a lot of people have given up on government. And if you’re one of those people, I would ask that you reconsider, because things are changing. Politics is not changing; government is changing. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
As a society, we haven’t spent as much time building the citizen Internet. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
I think there is a big disjuncture between what we are served up as consumers and what we are served up as citizens. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
There is a certain generation who have grown up being able to mash up, to tinker with, every system they’ve ever encountered. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
Government is supposed to be about how we do things together, and we can do that much more together if we use technology smartly right now. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
So few people vote these days, and I think it’s partly because they don’t feel like the institution really means anything to them. If you want them to vote, give them opportunities to do something else other than vote, to help. Jennifer Pahlka Read Quote
