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← People and their mental models

Jennifer Pahlka's mental models

4 claims Jennifer Pahlka made fit 2 mental models. Most often: Incentives, Second-order thinking. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Incentives

Look at what people are rewarded for; it explains more behaviour than what they say, your own included.

Used by 84 others

Regulatory delays are driven more by the incentives built into the bureaucracy administering the rules than by the substance of the rules themselves.

  1. Jennifer Pahlka Author of Recoding America The difference is mostly the delay, which stems not necessarily from the regulation itself, but from the incentives in the machinery that administers it. Weekend short read: Fire is a metaphor, until its noteatingpolicy.com · 22 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    The difference is mostly the delay, which stems not necessarily from the regulation itself, but from the incentives in the machinery that administers it.

Televised hearings built for viral clips are the wrong venue for honest accountability conversations.

  1. Jennifer Pahlka Author of Recoding America the time to make that point is not during a televised hearing when everyone is trying for a viral clip. Checking in on Outcomes Reviewseatingpolicy.com · 20 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    the time to make that point is not during a televised hearing when everyone is trying for a viral clip.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Second-order thinking

Ask "and then what?": follow a decision past its first effect to the ones that come after.

Used by 86 others

Prolonging a failing system's lifespan only makes its eventual collapse worse.

  1. Jennifer Pahlka Author of Recoding America Extending the lifespan of a brittle system just means the system eventually fails more spectacularly. A (shorter) Three Horizons Framework for Government Reformeatingpolicy.com · 27 Apr 2026All korrents from this piece
    Extending the lifespan of a brittle system just means the system eventually fails more spectacularly.

A well-functioning reform team within a bureaucracy can end up excusing the lack of deeper structural change.

  1. Jennifer Pahlka Author of Recoding America Ironically, an effective digital service can provide just enough success to excuse the lack of true reform. The Digital Service Was Never the Pointeatingpolicy.com · 30 May 2026All korrents from this piece
    Ironically, an effective digital service can provide just enough success to excuse the lack of true reform.