Let me do this for another person too

Daniele Catalanotto
Feb 18, 2022
Another first shitty draft for a service design principle about forms and families.

We go down to Sicily from Switzerland to visit family members there. Unfortunately, as the COVID pandemic is still pretty active, we have to fill out special forms online for each person travelling.

I’m filling in my personal information, and it then asks me if I want to add my kid to my form. So smart! I don’t have to fill in all the information like address and phone number again. I just can add his name and birth date.

Then when my dad fills his form, he struggles: “Where can I add my wife?” Hmmm... that’s not possible. They also share the same address, but he can’t add my mom to his form because she isn’t a kid. So as he is usually the one doing such admin work, he has to fill out an entirely new form with almost the same information except for the name and birthdate.

So when it comes to forms and other admin duties, we should recognize as service creators that often, one family member will do the work for all the others.

And therefore, we could help this person save a bit of time by adding the information of all the other family members in one go instead of doing one form for each person.

Little side notes

  • Once adapted even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • If you have a better idea for the title of this principle that would be a great help. It's not catchy enough and clear yet I think.


Like
No Name
Feb 23, 2022
Title idea: Wash, Rinse, Repeat

:)
Daniele Catalanotto
Feb 23, 2022
Thanks for the suggestion Lynnsey :) Very poetic!
Patrick Marcelissen
May 24, 2022
Clear to read the message of this principle 
Daniele Catalanotto
Aug 13, 2022

The second draft of this Service Design Principle

We are in 2021, and the COVID pandemic is still pretty active. We want to fly to Sicily from Switzerland. So we fill out special forms for each person travelling.

I’m filling in my personal information. Then the digital form asks me if I want to add my kid to my form. So smart! I don’t have to fill in again all the information like address and phone number. I have only to add the name and birth date of my son.

Then when my dad fills his form, he struggles. “Where can I add my wife?” Hmmm... that’s not possible. My dad and mom share the same address, but he can’t add my mom to his form because she isn’t a kid. So now he has to fill two forms with almost the same information except for the name and birthdate.

So let me ask you.

How can you make it quicker for your users or employees when they fill out forms for many people simultaneously?

Daniele's personal notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle
  • I've been able to reduce by 22.68% the length of this principle compared to its first draft
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 31, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

We travel to Sicily from Switzerland. As we’re in the middle of a pandemic, each of us has to fill out special forms.

As I do so, it asks me if I want to add my kid to my form. So smart! I don’t have to fill in again all the information that’s the same, like address and phone number. I only have to add my son’s name and birth date.

Then when my dad fills out his form, he struggles and says, “Where can I add my wife?”. Sure my mom isn’t my dad’s kid, at least I hope, but still, they share the same address and phone number!

So let me ask you.

How can you make it quicker for your users or employees to fill out forms for multiple people?

Daniele’s notes

  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 20 % compared to its first draft.