korrents
Jennifer Pahlka

Jennifer Pahlka

@jennifer-pahlka · 20 positions · On ppll ↗

Author of Recoding America; founded Code for America and was US deputy chief technology officer from 2013 to 2014.

Jennifer Pahlka did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

4 of Jennifer Pahlka's claims fit 2 mental models. Most often: Incentives, Second-order thinking.

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 89 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 89 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.