Beth Simone Noveck's book addresses the challenges of public sector delivery and problem solving; how the public sector mentality needs to change to be ready to solve the challenges the society is facing now which are very different from 20 years ago. There are pockets of this 'new' approach to delivering public services, but it definitely needs to be more wide spread.

As Noveck states: "We cannot expect to tackle tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s toolkit."

Noveck sets out the challenges in a clear and concise way, and also presents approaches on how to make the public sector more agile, more problem focused and more welcoming to input from those living in the 'real' world that public sector policy teams are creating policies for.

Noveck points out that to succeed policy teams must spend time to understand the problem, to define it properly, BEFORE starting to find solutions, rather than jump straight in to solve it. The risk of a 'quick approach' is that a solution is created for a problem that never even existed. Involving the general public is critical for success. In its simplest form, this can be done by an online survey and there are lots of cheap (or even free) tools available online.

Thank you for an immensely inspirational and easily accessible book on this new way of working for the public sector; in many cases the private sector is already using this approach. I wish that this book, or the course mentioned above, were made mandatory for our civil servants / public sector workers in the United States, United Kingdom and beyond.

Disclaimer: I lived in Hungary and left the country exactly because I stopped believing the government was interested in solving public problems.
I picked this book up because I started thinking about how unhappy in my job I was and I am thinking about how to actually achieve change. This was the perfect read, the language is easy understandable while it explores complex topics. The structure is great, can be followed easily.
I wish there would be "key points" sections at the end of the chapters next to the to dos, as there are points I know I'll want to reference and it would be easier.
There are points though which made me uncomfortable, for example when they talked about collecting data without the people's knowledge.
All in all it is amazing handbook, it made understanding and thinking about important but complex topics.

I resonate with this book more because I work closely with communities to implement projects that directly benefit them and it's such a powerful read because it highlights the social challenges, policies and laws that affect them and how it's not just one institution to change, but a whole system.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

If you’ve worked in both private and state or semi-state jobs, you’ll know the difference in the way they operate. “Solving Public Problems: A Practical Guide to Fix Our Government and Change Our World” is a new book published by Yale University Press by Beth Simone Noveck, Director of The Governance Lab which addresses this problem.

Opening with the attack on the capitol in Jan 2021, she proposes a radical rethink of the role of public servant and how we can close the gap between the often failing public institutions and extraordinary things done by entrepreneurs today.

If you are interested in the subject of solving public problems, there is a free course at https://lnkd.in/eniNUKJ hosted by The Governance Lab.

This book tackles heavy topics in an easily understood way to make it manageable for all readers. It focuses on strategies around technology, data management and the changing world, as well as problems that need new thinking. There are so many complex issues we're facing, and so much data to consider. This is a useful book in exploring the complex landscape. I definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.