There’s almost as much sugar in a cup of Raisin Bran than a Snicker’s bar. It’s time to change our breakfast habits
Kristen Berman
PSA: Want to dive into the sugar stats in this article? go here
No one would give a cigarette to a child. Why? Because smoking kills. But we should also cringe at consuming something else that’s equally as common as smoking used to be: sugary cereal.
While it might not seem like a bowl of Raisin Bran is as dangerous as tobacco, obesity is associated with nearly 1 in 5 deaths yearly in the U.S., according…
In 2018, business-travel spending exceeded $1.4 trillion — and the pandemic erased almost all of it. Switching to video meetings saved Amazon alone $1 billion in 2020. And the smart money says it’s not all coming back: Bill Gates says business travel will shrink by 50%; Delta predicts 20%.
Less business travel makes business sense.
The puzzle
Why did it take a pandemic for companies to realize they were overspending on flights? This was a non-trivial expense — traditional economics suggests that if a firm could have optimized it, they would have. In fact, the opposite happened — they were…
Today’s product and design leaders often rely heavily on the word of their customers when building their product road maps; whether it’s a customer survey or a phone interview, loads of qualitative data through these methods is being collected and used to dictate how to design and develop products. Seems like a foolproof plan, right?
Actually, no — a sole reliance on customer input and feedback is built on an antiquated model of human decision making that assumes humans are rational.
Let’s take a look at why.
The standard advice for getting inside users’ brains is, “talk with them directly.”…
We’re trying something new. We’ll pick 3 papers our team has read and do a quick summary + commentary on them. Let us know if you like this via twitter: @Irrationallabs
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Summaries this week by Kristen Berman
‘Working’ Remotely? Selection, Treatment, and Market Provision of Remote Work (JMP).
This paper tells a story about remote work and productivity.
In this study, researchers look at results from a Fortune 500 retailer’s experience with remote work. For this retailer, they find that in pre-covid conditions, remote work had an adverse selection problem. Less productive workers opt for remote work.
How did they find this out? They looked at workers…
A sign’s ability to do its job depends on where the sign is located. Robert Frank’s latest book on social norms opens with this reflection on signs — a small sign, with no signs around it, will be more powerful than a large sign with larger signs around it.
This human truth gives businesses an incentive to put up larger and larger signs so that their sign is more noticeable than their neighbor’s sign. In the US, zoning laws are enacted to prevent this domino effect and to maintain a pleasant downtown aesthetic.
Even Houston
As featured in mindtheproduct.com
Libby was new to backpacking. Her first trip was a 4-day trek through the Sierras with a good friend who was far more experienced. Before setting off, they downloaded an app that tracked their speed, elevation gain, and miles.
At the end of the first day, they were eager to see how far and fast they’d gone. Unfortunately, the app showed that their pace was slower than expected. They’d gained 3,000 feet and gone 7 miles, but only managed a 1.7 mph speed.
Libby’s first thought was the most “logical” — they should just walk faster…
Do this 1 thing right from the beginning and users are more likely to stick with you
Jeff Bezos coined the term Day 1 for Amazon. Bezos’s Day 1 represents a mindset of organizational speed and customer obsession. It’s a mindset and a concept to keep team sharp. As a behavioral scientist that has consulted for Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Intuit, Paypal and dozens more consumer tech companies, I’m convinced that product managers and designers also need to have a focus on Day 1, but not a conceptual Day 1 — literally Day 1 of product usage.
There’s no other time customers are more motivated to explore and use your product than on Day 1. Sadly, many product…
as featured in Fortune
When you’re trying to change a habit, what’s the first thing you learn about yourself?
How quickly you can fail … on incredibly easy tasks.
Have you ever tried to pick up meditation? Not intense, hour-long sessions — just a 10-minute-a-day meditation practice? It’s incredibly difficult.
Why? It’s not about the time — everyone can find 10 minutes in their day. And it’s not about the effort; the task isn’t to drive all the way to a gym and sweat. It’s to sit still — to not do anything. …
Note: I’m a behavioral scientist, not a medical professional or epidemiologist. This post is written from a behavioral science perspective. This is not medical advice.
The grass is always greener. Single people in COVID crave some loving touch. People with significant others crave the social stimulation of another adult. No matter if you’re single or married, if you’re an introvert or extrovert, strict social distancing has us all wanting more. And because of that, we are tempted to cheat before guidelines are lifted.
Early data has shown that as time goes on we are taking more trips outside the home…
It might seem like the glorious era of remote work is upon us, driven by a pandemic push. Zoom! Slack! Who needs the office? The promise of uncompromised productivity paired with freedom is alluring.
I’m a behavioral scientist, though, so color me skeptical.
While software can ostensibly replicate the features of an office, there are some underlying behavioral tricks that physical offices have mastered. We may not want to discard them so quickly.
Let’s start in a not-so-obvious place: habits.
People often complain that they can’t start new habits. …
Kristen Berman
Thinking about Irrationality. Behavioral Scientist. Co-founder of Irrational Labs and Common Cents Lab.
