FormFest 2023 videos are now live

Better government could very well start with better forms

This past November I couldn't attend the FormFest 2023 event hosted by Code for America (I was traveling at the time), so I'm delighted to report they've now posted lots of session videos for all to see and share. Check out the YouTube Playlist for all 12 videos.

Forms are often used defensively

As our team learned reading Recoding America this past fall, government entities of all sizes have a lot of improvements to make in terms of forms as a gateway to government services. And it’s not just about making digital copies of paper forms. Even the paper forms need… reform.

Government teams often use forms defensively, to ensure every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted before a single iota of public service is delivered to anyone. They fear being attacked by elected officials if they hand out services too easily. They also fear running out of funding too quickly because they handed out their resources “too fast” by making access too easy. (It’s hard to be a public servant and keep everyone happy!) So forms are often erected as barriers to get over rather than service enablers. Whether intentional or not, filling out overly-complex and dense forms ensures only the most determined or the most well-resourced people can access services. (To say nothing of accessibility issues of the forms themselves.)

As Recoding America discusses and as the FormFest sessions demonstrate, it doesn’t have to be that way.

In the GX Foundry we’ll be tackling forms in 2024 as we help the first 14 (of 44) agencies make the leap to a new web platform that includes online form processing abilities. We aim to help our partners re-imagine their forms not just as online versions of what they process today, but as gateways to service that can be more accessible, simpler, and more understandable to the publics we serve. Hopefully we’ll be able to share some before/after examples by mid-year.

Thank you to Code for America putting this event together! Our favorite videos:

• Designing inclusive forms with the U.S. Web Design System — a nerdy deep-dive into forms creation using the very thorough USWDS

• Demos: Forms in Sonoma County, CA and Syracuse, NY — local government examples that we hope will inform our approaches as a local gov team ourselves

• No coding needed: Empowering teams to build digital forms — this felt really practical and accessible to us, with some good process tips

Bonus Plug: Shape Up

Though the book is not about forms, it is about an approach to product development that could apply to forms as products, and we’re trying to learn from it this year. It’s called Shape Up and it’s from the creators of online work management platform Basecamp.

The Shape Up model includes various phases in development and refinement of features in software products, and online forms are, after all, a software product. As a broader framework, we believe this might inform lots of layers of our work.

Government digital teams should give some attention to this short book this year and explore how it might fit into (or even transform) your approach to solutions. Short take: It’s “agile” without the cult-like overtones other frameworks often develop.