Good software is born from having an opinion, a take on something. Too often, builders push that responsibility to the user.
Every setting in your app is a decision you’ve passed on to the person using your software. Before they use the thing, they need to decide how the thing should work.
A default is different. A default is the software saying ‘this is how it should work’. As a builder, more often than not you have to make the decision. You have to understand what most people are trying to do. And occasionally, you have to accept that somebody prefers it another way.
Sometimes you’ll get the default wrong. That’s fine. You can change it. An imperfect decision is better than no decision.
The best software makes hundreds of small decisions I never have to think about. Things are where I expect them to be. Things happen without asking.
A product that makes sensible decisions for you feels very different from one that hands you a box of parts and asks how you’d like them assembled.
Make the decision.