It happens a lot during app development… disagreement over some feature. One person thinks it ought to be “on” by default, the other “off.” Things have to feel right from the start. It’s worth sweating, and it’s worth fighting over(not physically). When an impasse occurs people tend to reach for the old stand-by: The Preference Setting.

Preferences are a really important part of application design. They let people customize the way they use an app. They let people feel ownership of their environment. It sounds like a great idea; Whenever you’re not sure, just give someone a preference to choose for themselves. -It’s the cheap way out, and it’s usually a bad idea.

There are lots of legitimate reasons to put preference toggles into your application. Not being able to decide on a feature, or not wanting to hurt coworkers feelings shouldn’t be one of them… Preference settings should be the last resort.

If fights break out in your group over small things, or if feelings get hurt over details, your group dynamic is busted. Your dynamic is equally busted if people don’t speak up enough to say what they think. Next time you get to a sticking place on a feature for your app, do yourself a favor. Don’t just put yet another pref. in, talk it out until a decision is made.