Good form design · Video 1 of 9

Start with the purpose

Rule 1 · Rule 2 of Every form has three users

A form is not a list of questions. A form makes a record, for someone, so they can do something next. Find that person first.

Watch it on YouTube: youtu.be/iXptSgx0BIE

In this video

A job form has four pages and 62 questions. Back at the office, someone opens the PDF and reads one line: was the job finished? So what were the other 61 questions for?

This video covers two rules and one tip:

  • Rule 1: know who reads the PDF, and what they do next.
  • Rule 2: cut every question that does not feed that next step.
  • Tip: make one form for one job.

Ask two questions first

Before you write one question on your form, answer two questions of your own:

  1. Who reads this form when the job is done?
  2. What do they do next?

Maybe the office reads it, and sends the invoice. Maybe the customer reads it, and books the repair. Maybe the builder reads it, and files it for an audit.

If you cannot answer those two questions, stop. You are not ready to write the form yet.

Not sure who reads it? Ask the person who reads the form what they look for first. Their answer is the most important question on your form.

Cut what nobody reads

Go through every question on your form and ask: does this answer help the reader do their next step? If it does, keep it. If nobody ever reads the answer, it is a cost with no return.

Every question costs time. Ten extra questions at ten seconds each is almost two minutes a job. With five techs doing four jobs a day, that is almost three hours a week of answers that nobody reads.

Some questions stay because your insurer or a regulator needs the answer. That is fine: they are a reader too. Keep the questions they need.

One form for one job

A form also gets too long when it tries to cover every job: hot water, drains, gas and roofs, all on one form. Then every tech, on every job, scrolls past questions for jobs they are not doing.

Two short forms are better than one long one. The tech picks the right form at the start of the job, and every question on it applies.

Before and after

In the video, the same job goes from four pages and 62 questions to one page and 18 questions. Same job, same office, same customer. The tech is done sooner, and the office finds the answer in seconds.

The checklist line

I can say in one sentence who reads this form and what they do next.

The full checklist, with all 15 rules, is at the end of Every form has three users.