DAE rely on zone focusing to catch those fleeting moments?

I set my aperture to f/8 and pre-focus to about 10 feet, which gives me a decent depth of field. Yesterday, I snapped a perfect shot of a vendor laughing with a customer without even raising the camera to my eye, lmao. It feels way more discreet and natural than constantly hunting for focus. The key is to anticipate where the action will happen and trust the settings.