Public Mechanics
A practice framework for understanding how public systems actually work
It is our responsibility as practitioners to understand how systems function under real-world conditions before proposing solutions.
We recognize repair work as sophisticated design work—the kind that happens after launch, when systems meet reality and start breaking.
Our practice values local knowledge, coordination costs, and the people who keep fragile systems functional despite institutional indifference.
We take professional responsibility for systems we touch and refuse to limit ourselves to launching and moving on.
The Public Mechanics Mindset
In our work, we have come to value:
- Staying with systems after launch over shipping and moving on
- Making invisible work visible over celebrating only what's new
- Understanding coordination costs over assuming frictionless delivery
- Local knowledge and workarounds over imposed best practices
- Institutional capacity building over individual heroics
- Authority to intervene over permission to observe
What Is Public Mechanics?
Not Just Fixers
Picture practitioners who don't just see broken systems but understand how they degrade. Public mechanics recognize that most systems don't fail cleanly—they leak, jam, get stuck. The people keeping them functional develop sophisticated practices for working around institutional constraints.
The Counter to Ship-and-Abandon
The industry rewards moving to the next project before the current one reveals its problems. We celebrate launches but ignore maintenance. Careers are built on portfolio pieces, not on systems that still work five years later.
Public mechanics stand as a counter-movement to this trend. They embody a sustained approach where understanding system behavior over time is just as important as the technical skills to build it. This longer view enables them to see patterns in how systems degrade and what keeps them functional despite institutional neglect.
The Reality of Automated Systems
Every "streamlined" process depends on someone managing exceptions. Every "automated" system requires human judgment when rules don't fit reality. Content moderation, data cleaning, algorithmic bias correction—tasks positioned as edge cases but actually core to operations.
Public mechanics recognize this pattern and design for it. The question isn't whether humans will be in the loop, but whether we create structural space for their judgment rather than burning them out.
Understanding Coordination as Infrastructure
Every intervention requires coordination. Someone notices a problem, escalates it, secures permission to act, finds resources to fix it. Someone communicates changes, updates documentation, trains the next person.
These costs reflect who has power. Who has authority to stop a process? Who can override a rule? Who gets listened to when something breaks? Public mechanics make these costs visible and design for them explicitly.
Get Started
- Document a workaround — Pick one system. Write how it's supposed to work, then how it actually works. What's the gap?
- Map coordination costs — For a recent change, trace every step: who noticed, escalated, approved, implemented, documented, trained.
- Interview repair workers — Talk to people who keep your system running. What do they know that isn't written down?
- Make one thing visible — Document one invisible repair pattern for decision-makers. Don't ask for resources yet—just make the work visible.
Diagnostic Questions
Public Mechanics offers these questions for any delivery system:
- Where does repair work happen, and who does it?
- What local knowledge keeps this system functional?
- What coordination costs are invisible or falling on frontline workers?
- Where does the system prevent people from doing what they know is right?
- How does authority flow, and who can intervene when something breaks?