default by design — inception

A different take on a popular adage and the start of a movement #defaultbydesign

Trying to make a point to mom about something, I said “Ma, this is what everyone does by default!”. Her sharp ears perked up and she said, I have only heard of defaulting a loan. What is this new usage! It had not occurred to me that the definition of default had evolved with the entry of computer software parlance into English vocabulary!

default (n.)

early 13c., “offense, crime, sin;” late 13c., “a failing or failure, failure to act,” from Old French defaute (12c.) “fault, defect, failure, culpability, lack, privation,” from Vulgar Latin *defallita “a deficiency or failure,” past participle of *defallere, from Latin de “away” (see de-) + fallere “to deceive, to cheat; to put wrong, to lead astray, cause to be mistaken; to escape notice of, be concealed from” (see fail (v.)). The financial sense is first recorded 1858; the computing sense is from 1966

Interesting.

Defaults in software are preset settings and essential for enabling an initial experience (e.g. default theme). Defaults are also often leveraged to suggest or choose on user’s behalf (e.g. opt-in vs opt-out), “set as default” to remember user selections (a.k.a. browser wars!), to reduce cognitive load (e.g. pre-populated fields in a form), or a way to restore sanity by restoring defaults (e.g. restore factory presets or defaults)!

And even though default in the software sense is a new entrant to our vocabulary, it has been a fundamental tenet of evolution. Evolution has been using defaults to its advantage from the beginning of time! Evolution strives to apply the human mind to complex problems and offload the mundane to instinct, muscle memory, or man-made devices.

Defaults when applied to life has however gotten a lot of bad press and starts with the unnerving question:

Are you living your life by default?

That’s an uneasy question for most of us as we realize that we do live largely by default … doing the same mind-numbing things over and over day in and day out. And so, is there a remedy?

The same articles that frown upon defaults as amounting to mediocrity suggest a way out… living by design. Now there’s an idea… what exactly is by design?

design (n.)

1580s, “a scheme or plan in the mind,” from Middle French desseign, desseing “purpose, project, design,” from the verb in French (see design (v.)). Especially “an intention to act in some particular way,” often to do something harmful or illegal (1704); compare designing. Meaning “adoption of means to an end” is from 1660s. In art, “a drawing, especially an outline,” 1630s.

Living by design is what all of us should be doing — being deliberate about what we do with our mornings, how we spend our time at work, having a work life balance, doing all the things we love and living it up etc.

Design is also the most elusive.

Life always throws that curve ball that topples all our time management plans and default takes over as the only way to stay afloat amidst all the chaos that is every day!

And that brings us to the oxymoron sounding “default by design”.

The idea:

Most of us live with defaults.
Why?
Because, default is efficient.
It’s a no brainer.

Design is what we strive for.
Design is key to live to our potential.
But… Design takes effort.

So…
What if we designed our defaults?
One-time effort. Repeated benefit.

By no means a new idea. There are plenty of examples of default by design in action!

Some default by design examples…

Famous people

• Mahatma Gandhi is etched in our minds with the minimal dhoti and stick that he embraced, to work for and with the poor people of India. Benefit: Lived by example and inspired millions
• Steve Jobs became famous for a black turtleneck, jeans, and new Balance sneakers. Benefit: No energy expended and no decision fatigue

Brands

• Apple fans use Apple accessories without second thought even if there are potentially better options. Samsung similarly has a fan following. Benefit: No review research fatigue! The brand benefits with a loyal customer base, and premium pricing

Religion and Government

• Belief is a time-tested default that religions use to shape followers’ lifestyles
• Laws are used by Governments as the default to create a civil society and avoid chaos
• Rituals provide a default set of activities to do at various times of the day or year

As we can see, default by design is not new. But there’s more to the idea and that is:

designing defaults with a purpose, such that the cascading effect is profoundly impactful.

A few impactful examples:

• A southern state in India called Tamil Nadu has largely eliminated one time use plastic bags by defaulting to cloth bags.
• Delta Airlines serves Biscoff cookies on their flights. What’s impactful about it? Biscoff cookies are vegan. By serving these cookies on their X # of flights and Y # of routes Delta has made a huge impact.
• UCLA Anderson offered Sugarfina vegan cubes as party favors to all the attendees at the recent John Wooden Leadership Awards ceremony in Los Angeles where Mellody Hobson was honored. A seemingly simple choice with a huge impact!

From individuals to organizations to nations, designing defaults could result in a significant impact.

As an individual — from tooth paste to shoes to paperless bills … we can choose to have an impact.

As an organization — choosing eco-conscious products for mass distribution can make a huge impact. Imagine if hotel chains decided to embrace eco-conscious toiletries that are offered to guests, what a huge positive impact they could have!

As nations — offering citizens good defaults like plastic free and straw free cities and walk and bike friendly roads can promote better choices.

Teaching children this simple technique can prepare them to tackle adult life.

Children can be deliberate about determining their design criteria (purpose) and identifying the defaults that serve the purpose. By using defaults effectively, they can optimize the time they spend and focus on things that really matter. Children are the citizens of tomorrow and the defaults they choose to live with can have a cascading generational effect leading to widespread transformation. The real possibility of such transformation is exciting!

Combining the efficiency of defaults with purposeful design creates a powerful combination.

How is default by design different from habits?

Defaults repeated over time become habits. Most of our habits are formed subconsciously over time based on the defaults that we live with. Changing a habit therefore requires changing the defaults. That’s why they say it takes 21 days to form a habit — what this really entails is changing your defaults, then repeating them with discipline for a period of time after which it is expected to result in a habit change. But most of us don’t succeed in changing habits no matter how hard we try, because no one really broke it down for us. Instead of trying to change a big hairy habit, we could instead start with our defaults. Examine them, update them, and make them repeatable.

Examine current default → Update default → Repeat New default → Habit

Much simpler when you think of it that way isn’t it? Imagine what you can do with new defaults in your own life!

Cautionary note: Frog in the well effect

As with anything, along with all the Pros there are Cons. Defaults by their very nature tend to create a frog in the well effect — locking us into patterns that may be outdated but we’ll never know as we are not on the lookout. A periodic check and refresh of defaults by design is essential.

Defaults should enable freedom from the mundane to do what we love

If you don’t find yourself living it up, it’s time to review your defaults.

With that out of the way…

I received some insightful responses to this blog from friends: click here

What is your default by design ?!

Use #defaultbydesign or #mydefaults or #designyourdefault to share!