Show me the deadline first

Daniele Catalanotto
Mar 25, 2022
A Service Design principle to help people be on time

I’m weird when taxes season comes; I’m always excited. Not really about all the admin work that I have to do. But I’m excited to see if the state improved the workflow in an inspiring way. This year I notice a smart trick right on the envelope I receive at home.

On the envelope, they tell me right away what’s the deadline to finish and send my taxes.

The envelope with the deadline.

The taxes team is smart. It knows many people forget to fill their taxes on time. So instead of just being grumpy about it, they make changes in the service to help people avoid this problem.

The tax service team has another trick. They repeat that deadline information a few times in different locations. So that they are sure you won’t miss it.

You can adapt this to your context: Should the deadline be in the email subject you are sending? Should it be displayed on the login page of your app?


Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths by 27% compared to the first version.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.

Like 1
Patrick Marcelissen
May 5, 2022
Clear to read the message of this principle. No comments 
Deleted
Oct 29, 2022
Cheers for the Swiss! I’ve never heard anyone say they were excited to see how the US Internal Revenue Service improved the process. 🤪
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 29, 2022
Hahaha that's the benefit of being a service designer, you are curious even for the services that take your money :P 
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 29, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

When taxes season comes, I’m always excited. Not about the admin work. I’m excited to see how the state improved its workflow. This year I notice a smart change on the envelope I get at home. It says: “Deadline to send back your taxes: 15 march 2021”.

The taxes team knows many miss the deadline. So instead of complaining, the team helps people to notice the deadline. They write it big on the envelope and repeat it in different locations. You can’t miss it.

So let me ask you:

Where, when and how often should you show the deadlines? (1)

Footnotes

(1) For example, should the deadline be in the email subject you are sending? Should it be displayed on the login page of your app?

Daniele’s notes

  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 39 % compared to the previous draft.
  • Added a question to help the reader turn this idea into practice.