In this episode of Make Sense, I sit down with Matt Wallaert, who believes behavioral science can change the world. For 20 years, Matt has applied behavioral science to practical problems. After leaving academia, he led product teams from startups to Fortune 500. Now, he’s the founder of BeSci.io, where he and the world’s most experienced behavioral science leaders help companies grow applied behavioral science capabilities within their organizations. In this episode, we talk about compassionate scientific activism, the complexity of software development, and the issue with hiring generalists.
Show Notes
00:00 More Software Developers Are Working On Social Media Than Climate Change
02:05 Compassionate Scientific Activism
06:38 Cynical or Sensible: Decoding the reality of technology decisions
17:30 Technology as a solution…or problem
20:40 Technological intervention and value trade-offs
25:43 Externalities of Technological Innovations
34:50 Complexity of Software Development
39:00 Lack of Early Experimentation
42:47 The Importance of Applied Experimentation
54:09 The Myth of Generalists
About
Make Sense is a weekly series dedicated to talking about startup stories from the past, hysterical or mind-numbing blunders, how to do better. We also discuss how tech impacts us and how we can raise the bar when it comes to the ethics, morals, and standards in the tech industry.
About Matt Wallaert
For almost 20 years, Matt Wallaert has been applying behavioral science to practical problems. After leaving academia, his career as an executive lead from startups to the Fortune 500 and back again, before founding BeSci.io (Behavioral Science in organizations), where he and the world’s most experienced behavioral science leaders help companies grow applied behavioral science capabilities within their organizations.
In his book Start At The End and other writings, as well as hundreds of talks from the UN to SXSW, Wallaert details how the cycle of behavioral strategy, insights, design, and impact evaluation can help us build products and services that change behavior. From the janitor to the CEO, his approachable frameworks show how everyone can incorporate behavioral science into what they do, no PhD required.
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