#fixtheforms
Ok will have a think about the “working in multidisciplinary teams” aspect.

Most of my saved playbook-ish stuff is “sensible advice linked to #FixTheForms” but of course these things are necessarily related.
November 11, 2026 at 12:51 PM
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, message from the hospital. Due to a technical issue, we might not have received “the appointment letter”.

“Please reply YES if you have received the letter and NO if you have not received the letter”.

Fair play: they included an UNSURE option.

Bewildering …
November 6, 2026 at 1:44 PM
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, I’m still trying to wrap up my late mother’s estate.

Any humane organisation that requires settlement of an outstanding bill would send out a receipt to say the amount has been paid.

This is what I had to do for UK Inheritance Tax:

1. Call the helpline number
November 5, 2026 at 4:17 PM
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @martinjordan.com discovers that @deutschebahn.com requires euros to have a comma as the decimal symbol, but the error message tells users to use a dot instead.

Pro tip: get real people to test your error messages.
How to mess things up with your users, or another edition of #FixTheForms—this time with @deutschebahn.com.

The form asks users to use a dot as the decimal symbol. When they do, it shows an error telling them to do it exactly like this.

To progress, despite the error message, a comma is required.
October 25, 2026 at 2:32 PM
How to mess things up with your users, or another edition of #FixTheForms—this time with @deutschebahn.com.

The form asks users to use a dot as the decimal symbol. When they do, it shows an error telling them to do it exactly like this.

To progress, despite the error message, a comma is required.
October 25, 2026 at 1:53 PM
But who wants to spend money on boring old “fixing legacy systems” when “throw money at adding exciting new technology on top of the mess” is so much more fun, adds to the CV, and makes you look good to a promotion board?

#FixTheForms (I wish, sigh)
October 14, 2026 at 8:40 AM
Really enjoyed @webdevconf.com - great and varied selection of talks, met lovely people new to me, caught up with some friends, even had the opportunity to talk about #FixTheForms

Thank you.
October 9, 2026 at 4:13 PM
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @martinjordan.com encounters the older person’s nemesis: the calendar picker that forces folks like me to click back through a billion months.

Luckily Martin is much younger 😊
Yet another government form that needs fixing: Applying for a Malaysia digital arrival card makes the user navigate another calendar to enter the date of birth.

Also, the form doesn’t allow copy-pasting, making it difficult for users with dyslexia or dyscalculia.
October 8, 2026 at 5:05 PM
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I spotted this excellent and accurate article about asking for personal titles (such as Mr or Mx) on forms

By Leila Cass-Maran

tl;dr don't make personal title questions mandatory

cass-maran.com/mandatory-ti...
Personal title fields: asking for something that doesn’t exist - Cass-Maran Consulting
Does your website form have a mandatory field asking for someone’s title? Here’s the issue with that – and what you should do instead. What is a personal title? A 'title' is the bit that comes before ...
cass-maran.com
October 5, 2026 at 2:51 PM
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, help people with dyscalculia (like me), people who are stressed or ill, and people in a hurry by making time displays use “midday” (or “noon”) and “midnight”
I’ve just released a new version of the NHS Prototype kit. 🎉

The main new feature is a “formatTime” filter which uses 12 hour clock and midday/midnight instead of 12am/pm, to avoid confusion.

See prototype-kit.service-manual.nhs.uk/guides/filte...
Filters
Filters are a Nunjucks feature that you can use within your page templates.
prototype-kit.service-manual.nhs.uk
September 16, 2026 at 4:21 PM
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, a roller-coaster ride with HMRC about tax.

(1/n, n = 15)

Context:
I'm trying to settle up my late mother's estate. I sent in a form to say her flat sold for less than the value on the inheritance tax return. Score: neutral.

A month later...
September 2, 2026 at 12:42 PM
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I enjoyed this on form automation tools because of the unusual level of real-world challenges. A nice change from 'this tool makes forms easy'.

Example: "Whatever you choose, decide early who is allowed to map fields to objects."

techbullion.com/8-best-form-...
8 Best Form Automation Tools for Salesforce Admins
The recurring Salesforce admin problem is not building forms. It is that every form request arrives with an implied integration request attached, and the integration is where the work actually is. Som...
techbullion.com
August 30, 2026 at 6:44 PM
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I came across this project by @publicpolicylab.bsky.social where they fixed a whole raft of notices related to childcare and food assistance for the US State of Arizona. Lovely co-design and lots of testing.

www.publicpolicylab.org/projects/a-t...
A to Z: Modernizing Arizona's Public Notices | Public Policy Lab
Project Background The state of Arizona is working on a multipronged effort to enhance the client experience and operational efficiency of the state’s public benefits programs, including the launch of...
www.publicpolicylab.org
August 19, 2026 at 10:58 AM
A worry I would have is that if our agents are out there spinning their wheels on our behalf in the deep in the swamp of bad bureaucracy, we have less incentive to sort out processes and do things like FixTheForms
January 22, 2026 at 3:13 PM
February 7, 2024 at 11:06 PM
October 15, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Of course applications need to be properly scrutinised, these are serious matters. But there is something awry with the process if it takes that long before the scrutiny can even start - with another eight weeks allowed for that.

#FixTheForms is about more than just the forms.
June 1, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Lasting Power of Attorney is an important and sensitive government service. Once the form has been filled in, it has to be sent off - to an address in Birmingham which Royal Mail doesn't believe exists. Hardly reassuring. #FixTheForms
May 25, 2026 at 2:23 PM
And if you persevere, you will be rewarded with a #FixTheForms special bonus - a double negative so convoluted that it gets its own explanation - agreeing means no and disagreeing means yes. Of course.
February 12, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I want to give an organisation money. They presumably want to take my money. So well done for coding so obscure that my mobile device doesn't recognise the data entry fields - so no keyboard, no way forward. Well done, @financialtimes.com #FixTheForms
February 4, 2026 at 6:07 PM
It's completely optional, other than not being at all optional.

#FixTheForms
October 18, 2025 at 11:21 AM
A #FixTheForms masterclass today from @edfenergy.com

A bill arrives with an estimated meter reading. It's a bit off, so let's update it with a more accurate one. Off we go to the website. Log in to MyAccount it says. Which is reasonable enough, except that I don't have any such logon details.
August 31, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Which one do we click in order to move on?

A trick question, of course. The answer is both of them.

#FixtheForms
May 7, 2025 at 3:45 PM
One of my #fixtheforms bugbears. Well formatted addresses in London have a city but no county. Requiring both fields is just wrong.

And here the BBC adds insult to injury by having correctly populated the fields from its own PAF-based lookup system only to insist that the right answer is wrong.
March 7, 2025 at 1:14 PM
There was a Health section, but there was no way to indicate ADHD, Autism, Neurodiversity, Anxiety or Perimenopause.

I've reported this as feedback.

#FixTheForms #ServiceDesign

4/4
September 2, 2025 at 11:29 AM