Skip to the archive contents
Archive status:
Open
Declassified
1,042 / 10,000
Clearance
Visitor
1,042 entries declassified
All 12
Logic 0
Mechanics 0
Numbers 0
Words 0
Bias 0
Decisions 0
Paradox 0
Attention 0
Social Proof 0
Choice 0
Persuasion 0
Platforms 0
Habit 0
Negotiation 0
Pricing 0
Incentives 12
Signals 0
Statistics 0
Scarcity 0
Brand 0
Framing 0
Narrative 0
Naming 0
Rhetoric 0
Rewards 0
Progress 0
Competition 0
Engagement 0
Achievements 0
Priming 0
Emotions 0
Attention Cap. 0
Recall 0
Fatigue 0
Tokenomics 0
Trust 0
Yield 0
Governance 0
Markets 0
Color 0
Sound 0
Touch 0
Scent 0
Space 0
12 / 12
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0392
A quota specifies a count. Whatever is not counted becomes the cheapest thing to sacrifice, so the total holds while the mix quietly deteriorates.
The hidden part
#0392
A quota does not raise output. It rearranges output around the one attribute that is being counted.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why a quota changes the composition of output
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0390
A price does two jobs: it raises revenue and it sorts users by how much they need the thing. Remove the price and the second job stops being done.
The hidden part
#0390
A price is not only a charge. It is a filter that sorts demand by need, and free resources have no filter.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why free options are consumed wastefully
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0389
Nobody in the system gains from a low score. When every participant benefits from inflation, the scale compresses upward until it stops distinguishing anything.
The hidden part
#0389
A rating scale does not collapse because reviewers are kind. It collapses because nobody in it profits from a low number.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason a rating system inflates over time
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0388
Penalties attach to the report, not to the event. Reports are voluntary and events are not, so the measurable quantity falls while the underlying one does not.
The hidden part
#0388
A penalty on reports does not reduce the events. It reduces the only record that the events occurred.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why punishing failure removes reporting, not failure
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0400
An incentive supplies a reason and overwrites the one already there. Withdrawing the payment does not reinstate what it replaced.
The hidden part
#0400
An incentive does not sit on top of the previous reason. It replaces it, and withdrawal leaves the replacement in place with the price set to zero.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why removing an incentive rarely restores the earlier behaviour
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0399
A ranking motivates whoever can plausibly move on it. For everyone whose position is settled, it removes the reason to try at all.
The hidden part
#0399
A ranking motivates only where position is contestable. For the settled middle it publishes the news that effort will not change the outcome.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason a leaderboard demotivates the middle
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0398
A deadline is met by narrowing the work, not by accelerating it. Delivery improves and the discarded scope leaves no record of having existed.
The hidden part
#0398
A deadline does not make work faster. It makes work smaller, and the discarded version never enters the record to be missed.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why deadlines improve output and lower ambition
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0397
A promotion is awarded for performance in one job and delivered as a different job. The evidence used to select is evidence about the role being left.
The hidden part
#0397
Promotion selects on evidence from the job being left. Nobody collected evidence about the job being entered, and the acceptance is not that evidence.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason a promotion can be a demotion
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0396
Payment does not add to an existing reason for doing something. It can replace it, and the replacement is often smaller than what it displaced.
The hidden part
#0396
A small payment does not sit alongside the original reason for doing something. It replaces it, and then has to compete on its own terms.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why volunteers outperform paid workers on some tasks
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0395
Effort is allocated across tasks that compete for the same hours. Measuring one of them does not add attention; it moves attention off the others.
The hidden part
#0395
Measuring one task does not create effort. It withdraws it from whatever was competing, and the loss is invisible because unmeasured work has no series to fall.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason an unmeasured task disappears
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0394
A guarantee moves the cost of a bad outcome from one party to another. Both parties then face different prices for care, and both respond.
The hidden part
#0394
A guarantee does not remove the cost of a bad outcome. It reassigns it, and every party whose price of care changed will adjust.
Reveal the hidden insight of Why a strong guarantee shifts behaviour on both sides
↻
No visual on file
Incentive Design
Entry #0393
A reviewer who wrongly rejects is never identified. A reviewer who wrongly accepts is named in the record, and the two errors are not priced alike.
The hidden part
#0393
The two errors of review are not priced alike. A missed discovery is anonymous and a published mistake is attributable, so caution is the cheaper mistake.
Reveal the hidden insight of The reason peer review rewards caution
↻
No files under that classification
Nothing in this pillar has been declassified on this page yet. Try another pillar.
Back to top