Caroline Jarrett

Done!

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Today’s episode of #FixTheForms is a very exciting one: an example of a definite documented improvement.

In this case, the guidance notes for a complex form were missing their examples. @matteason.me reported the problem and has now discovered that the examples are fixed.

Thanks Matt.

Contrast to experience in Skechers:

Us: do you have wide fitting men’s shoes in size 9 and a half?

Assistant: certainly

20mins later: husband has cheerfully forked out twice as much as he might have spent in Marks and Spencer

(Sorry I didn’t think to ask about narrow fitting).

Gah, equally annoying

Infuriating experience in Marks and Spencer:

Me: where are the other wide fitting men’s shoes?

Assistant: I’m sorry, we only do wide fitting in formal shoes

Me: so people with wide feet are only allowed to be formal?

Assistant: <smiles weakly>

It’s not the assistant’s fault, of course.

That’s a definite win

In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @radiobeartime.com resorts to the Freedom of Information route to getting to grips with his pension

I think you’ll find that the correct (albeit less used) spelling is “Crapita)

Sigh

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Through Friday, you can get 30% off paperbacks and 50% off ebooks at Rosenfeld! New releases, bestsellers, and old favorites...they're all on sale!

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Absolutely delighted that Misha Glenny is the new host of In Our Time. We’ve really enjoyed his “how to invent a country” series.

Question: will the new series be as reliably soporific? “Feathered dinosaurs” has sent us to sleep at least 5 times so far.

www.bbc.com/mediacentre/...

There's still time to snag a hefty discount on all @rosenfeldmedia.com books and e-books - including mine

Especially if you happen to need to run a survey anytime soon.

In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @peterkwells.com accurately points out that errors happen in ALL systems, paper-based and digital

Pro tip: Moving a badly-designed form or process from paper to digital does not magically improve its design. You just create a badly-designed digital one

Website Task Flowchart

Today’s episode of #FixTheForms is an especially brilliant one from @xkcd.com that applies to all registration forms and all websites

xkcd.com/3175/

Delighted to feature in this month note

Effortmark posters - Effortmark Posters designed by Caroline in partnership with Julia Allum, and free to download from the Effortmark website

Lovely to catch up and glad you liked the stickers

(You have to catch me in person to get a sticker but the matching posters are free to download:

www.effortmark.co.uk/effortmark-p...

Or contact @juliaallum.bsky.social if you’d like your own design made)

Small acts of maintenance Maintenance is work, but it’s also care.

Sunday thoughts on small acts of maintenance.

medium.com/@niacampbell...

Definitely recall thinking “I’d love to be clever enough to understand this”

Actually went to see it in the first production. Thrilling experience.

Google is very odd about buses in Birmingham. Tried to send me loads of stops instead of a short walk last time I tried it.

In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @helivans.bsky.social encounters a common problem with translation

Pro tip: test everything especially in all the languages you offer

Agreed. I had the amazing experience of visiting Ngorongoro Crater in the early 1980s when there were almost no tourists. My favourite was seeing the flamingoes.

Surveys That Work By Caroline Jarrett Design better surveys with Surveys That Work. A practical guide to reducing errors and getting accurate results through a seven-step process.

There’s a big sale on for a week @rosenfeldmedia.com, including on my book “Surveys That Work”

If you’ve wondered about buying it, here you go

rosenfeldmedia.com/books/survey...

Teams in wider government: How do you use GOV.UK Frontend and the Design System? · alphagov govuk-design-system · Discussion #5001 About this work Since June 2025, we’ve made updates to the Design System to support work on the GOV.UK brand, in line with the GOV.UK brand guidelines. As part of GOV.UK Frontend v6.0.0, the colour...

👂 We want to hear from team in wider government about how they use the GOV•UK Design System and GOV•UK FrontEnd.

Any feedback will help us support teams better in the future.

💬 Join the discussion here: github.com/alphagov/gov...

The Playbook Playbook — or How to create your first Playbook I’ve been working with a few government teams to help them create Playbooks capturing how they do things in their team, project, programme…

Reminded today of my post on playbook creation - markdalgarno.medium.com/the-playbook... - hoping an organisation I am working with will find it useful.

In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, a dilemma that’s familiar to many: read the instructions or rush it?

Pro tip, and National Audit Office advice for many years: design the instructions so that people can start straight away, using instructions as they need them as they rush.

#FixTheForms

Your app could have been a responsive website is the new this meeting could have been an email.

You are right, but I didn’t know that the correct pronunciation isn’t obvious. I have fond memories of Racine and a painting of a view of huts on the lakeshore hanging next to me right now.

Danish delight: Tim Anderson’s cherry marzipan kringle recipe for Thanksgiving These iced Danish pastries stuffed with nuts and jam are a speciality of Tim’s hometown of Racine, Wisconsin

Thrilled that there’s a recipe in the Guardian today for a Kringle - much beloved pastry of Racine, Wisconsin where I lived for several months in 1983 and visited regularly for a couple of years after that

www.theguardian.com/food/2025/no...