Opinionated Defaults
Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast
The best products make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing - which is why the fruit bowl should be on the counter and the cookies should be on the top shelf.
At Patreon, Adam Fishman's team developed a principle called 'opinionated defaults.'
'Making it hard to do the wrong thing when you're setting up and easy to do the right thing but not eliminating choice. So the creator could still make the choice to do the wrong thing... but we made it difficult for them to do it.'
Apply this to your house. Kids will do what's easy. So make the right choices easy.
Fruit bowl on the counter at kid height. Cookies in a cabinet they can't reach. Healthy snacks in the front of the fridge. Treats in the back.
Clothes laid out the night before. Shoes by the door. Toothbrush visible.
You're not eliminating choice - they can still demand the cookies. But you're adding friction to the wrong choice and removing friction from the right one.
Opinionated defaults. Your house should have opinions about what's easy to access.
(And yes, this works on adults too. Ask me about my phone's app placement.)
PM Theme: Product design for behavior change
Parenting Theme: Environmental design
“One of our product principles, which became opinionated defaults, which is basically making it hard to do the wrong thing when you're setting up your Patreon page and easy to do the right thing but not eliminating choice.”Adam Fishman · 00:43:07
