korrents

← People and their mental models

Kenneth Reitz's mental models

7 claims Kenneth Reitz made fit 6 mental models. Most often: Incentives, Conventions (Jakob's law), Design is how it works. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Conventions (Jakob's law)

People bring what they learned on every other product, so familiar patterns usually win over novel ones.

Used by 5 others

Widely shared interface conventions amount to a form of mass education nobody enrolled in.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician Scale this across people using the same conventions, and interface design starts to look like a form of mass education with no enrollment process. The Interface Is the Curriculumkennethreitz.org · 4 Sept 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsScale this across people using the same conventions, and interface design starts to look like a form of mass education with no enrollment process.

    ↗The Interface Is the Curriculumkennethreitz.org

    4 Sept 2026

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.

Incentives

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

Used by 98 others

The metrics a product displays to users shape their values and behavior, regardless of the designer's intent.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician I keep returning to the principle that the metrics you expose are the values you endorse. A meter changes behavior whether or not its designer intends every consequence. Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org · 19 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsI keep returning to the principle that the metrics you expose are the values you endorse. A meter changes behavior whether or not its designer intends every consequence.

    ↗Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org

    19 Aug 2026

Traditional programming rewarded sustained attention to one problem, while agentic programming rewards how much work can be kept moving before usage limits reset.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician Old-school programming asked how long I could stay with a problem. Agentic programming increasingly asks how much problem I can keep moving before the window resets. Those are not the same question. Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org · 19 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsOld-school programming asked how long I could stay with a problem. Agentic programming increasingly asks how much problem I can keep moving before the window resets. Those are not the same question.

    ↗Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org

    19 Aug 2026

Design is how it works

Judge a design by what it does for the person using it, not only by how it looks.

Used by 26 others

A public software preview should already be usable, not just a concept a viewer has to imagine around a screenshot.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician A public preview should not mean "please imagine a product around this screenshot." Announcing RetroVaultkennethreitz.org · 4 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsA public preview should not mean "please imagine a product around this screenshot."

    ↗Announcing RetroVaultkennethreitz.org

    4 Aug 2026

Lock-in and switching costs

People stay with what they would not choose again because leaving costs more than staying; watch who sets that cost.

Used by 17 others

Software that sets out to own a user's data starts out helpful and ends up forcing a migration.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician Every tool that decides it should own your data begins by being helpful and ends as a migration. Announcing RetroVaultkennethreitz.org · 4 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsEvery tool that decides it should own your data begins by being helpful and ends as a migration.

    ↗Announcing RetroVaultkennethreitz.org

    4 Aug 2026

Second-order thinking

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

Used by 92 others

A product that speeds up turning intention into reality increases appetite for continued use, then charges for that continuation.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician That is the thirst trap: the product increases the rate at which you can turn intention into reality, which increases your appetite for continuation, then meters the continuation. It teaches you to work at a cognitive velocity that the lower plan cannot sustain. Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org · 19 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThat is the thirst trap: the product increases the rate at which you can turn intention into reality, which increases your appetite for continuation, then meters the continuation. It teaches you to work at a cognitive velocity that the lower plan cannot sustain.

    ↗Flow State, Meteredkennethreitz.org

    19 Aug 2026

The map is not the territory

Every model, word or plan is a simplified map of reality; useful when its structure matches, misleading when mistaken for the thing itself.

Used by 55 others

Software bugs most often arise at boundaries where reality does not respect the divisions assumed by the source code.

  1. Kenneth Reitz Programmer, photographer and musician Reality is under no obligation to respect the boundaries in our source tree. Teaching Cannoli Which Screen Is Homekennethreitz.org · 17 Jul 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsReality is under no obligation to respect the boundaries in our source tree.

    ↗Teaching Cannoli Which Screen Is Homekennethreitz.org

    17 Jul 2026