Bad form

I really hate poorly designed forms. When I encounter them in settings where I don’t know all the details of why the information is requested and how it is used, the system used to enter/process it, etc. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and more often than not will even blame myself for being “bad at filling out forms.” But when the form is somewhere that I’m fully aware of all those details, I get really annoyed and frustrated every time I see it. Not just at the form itself or the frustration of trying to complete it, but at how blind the people making the form seem to be to the importance of their specific word choices, field types, etc. and the impact those can have not only on the information they receive but also on other outcomes for various stakeholders.

At the moment I’m flustered because another department at my workplace just made big changes to “improve” a form that I, and a lot of staff I support, frequently have to fill out and submit as part of our jobs. In my opinion, it’s now more difficult to provide all of the essential information, harder to break it up in ways to fit into appropriate fields, and the the wording of some of the questions is leading in ways that I fear could unintentionally have a negative impact on some of the services our organization provides.

I’ve had to ask myself if I’m just resisting change (no) or making a mountain out of a molehill (maybe?), but I want to shake someone by the shoulders and scream “details matter!!!!” (I would never actually do that).