What if everything we think we know about government tech is wrong? | Jen Pahlka

When the pandemic put millions of people out of work, unemployment insurance systems in every state buckled under the weight of soaring applications for benefits. In California, over 1M people were stuck in a months-long processing backlog. Governors everyone where blamed technology built on COBOL. But the COBOL was just fine. So what went wrong?

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America and the former Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States. Code for America is a national nonprofit that brings the principles and practices of the digital era to government. While US Deputy CTO at the Obama White House from 2013-2014, she founded the United States Digital Service (USDS), which brings world-class technologists and designers to government to improve digital service delivery. She is the winner of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the David Packard Award, the Oxford Internet Institute’s Technology and Society Award, the National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Award, and was selected by ​Wired​ magazine as one of the people who have most shaped technology and society in the past 25 years. Her 2012 TED Talk, “Coding a Better Government,” has been viewed over 1M times. She also serves on the Tech Talent Project advisory board and served on the Defense Innovation Board. She holds fellowships with Ashoka, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Volcker Alliance.

Ignite Talks is a fast-paced geek event started in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since the first Ignite took place in Seattle around 17 years ago, Ignite has become an international phenomenon, with Ignite events produced in Helsinki, Tunisia, Paris, New York City and over 350 other locations in between.