The tyranny of default behaviors

In contrast to the emphasis the (admittedly somewhat debunked) Nudge puts on setting up good defaults, let’s talk about avoiding shitty ones.

If you set a default behavior, be it an expectation of who picks up the phone when production goes down or the bank account you link to autopay a bill, you can count on that behavior happening at least once.

If the default behavior is undesirable, count on it happening precisely when you or your system is too busy and overwhelmed with other things—which is to say at the point of maximum inconvenience.

What happens today if you don’t preemptively take action on that bill, or that monthly report, or your direct report’s meeting? Can you make your failure state suck less?