Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

This post first appeared on IBM Business of Government. Read the original article.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

A Conversation with Jen Pahlka, Author, Recoding America

“Inside government…the digital revolution has played out very differently. Even as our expectations about the immediacy and accuracy of services have skyrocketed, the implementation of laws has become anything but easier. The famous slowness of bureaucracy is a key reason, but all too frequently, what new widens the gap between policy intentions and actual outcomes is the messy task of implementation through digital technology, and the ways government makes working with that technology uniquely complex.” Recently, Jen Pahlka joined me on The Business of Government Hour (https://bit.ly/3N5GaBc) to discuss her new book and here is a sampling of what we explored.

0:00 Opening

0:38 Why Recoding America

4:58 Agile vs. Waterfall Mindsets

7:58  A Call to Federal Service

11:18 Why Federal IT Implementations Fail

15:09 Accessing On-line VA Benefits

18:24 Getting Policy Implementations Right

19:05 Shedding the Waterfall Mindset

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *