Reviews

A deeply insightful book by one of the civic tech field's leaders, Code for America founder Jennifer Pahlka. The margins of my copy are littered with notes, takeaways, and epiphanies, as Jennifer puts into words themes and concepts distilled from a decade-plus of experience in and around all kinds of government. I learned so much from this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in government and public policy -- not just those interested in civic tech.

NB: I read a pre-print in February 2023 (the book will be released in June 2023).

lcolium's review

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5.0

All of my tech friends should definitely read this but imho you don’t have to be in tech or government to enjoy it. This was super enlightening and helped me understand a lot of historical context behind some very famous and infamous government tech projects, as well as some that I didn’t know about.

spencerseas's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

4.5

Really, really liked this book, and will be taking into account in my work and life in public service.

cgn's review

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5.0

Utterly fantastic. I’m struggling to even put it into words how well this book accomplished its intended purpose. Extremely well-written—I was so hooked you would think I was reading a fiction book.

Read if you want to understand why government tech initiatives end up super late, way over budget, and overall don’t accomplish what they should—along with how we can fix the problem.

As someone starting her career in tech, I’m seriously considering going into public service, purely because of this book.

gagebeck's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

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