Be a heroic advocate rebel toddler to write government forms

Transcript (and see slides)

Hi, I’m Anita, and I work for the government. Not only that, I write forms. Today, I will talk about how to be a heroic advocate rebel toddler when writing government forms.

It’s actually not that bad for me. When people ask me what I work on, I say weed. More specifically, cannabis business permitting. You know what’s fun about it? Not the weed.

I don’t know what I’m doing. But turns out, neither does anyone else! That’s because cannabis was legalized for recreational use in California in 2016. Trump got elected and we have weed.

And, now what? How do we regulate it? Policymakers in Sacramento are still hashing that out. Same for SF. There’s no existing paper form. There's just a bunch of requirements. Which is actually very freeing!

Forms expert Caroline Jarrett once tweeted “There is no user need for a form.” But opening a cannabis business is not like getting a marriage certificate.

The Office of Cannabis basically wants to know: “Is your business responsible enough to sell a federally banned controlled substance, and not like, get robbed at gunpoint?” That's a complicated back and forth!

There are pages of requirements, and the state forms asks for things that are impossible to answer for people who haven’t opened their business yet. Like, delivery vehicle information. From where? My imagination?

Uh, yeah that’s what they do, they make stuff up, because we force them. And have this reaction while doing it. A real moment from a usability test, by the way!

So to write a complicated form, you really do have to know what the real process is like. And then be an advocate for the user. You have to fight for them.

And it’s not just about being a heroic advocate. You also have to be a rebel. Question the way things are. The rebel is the one who uncovers truth instead of just going along. Which is super important here because nobody knows what they’re doing anyway!

Not just a heroic advocate rebel. A heroic advocate rebel toddler. Stakeholders don't know what they want, and you have to squeeze it out of them. With annoying questions.

The first annoying question I ask all the time of the Office of Cannabis. What information are you actually looking for with this vague requirement?

City requirements dictated that the application needed “contact information for the employee on the premises that is responsible for the maintenance of the video surveillance system.”

When we tested this, applicants didn’t know what to put for this person.

“Wait, not only do I have to run a cannabis business, I have to hire a full-time video tech too?”

Actually no. The office wanted to know if they had anyone checking if video was working, and who to contact to get footage. Which is a completely different question! So I rewrote the application to actually ask for that.

Annoying question #2: Will any possible answer here prevent them from getting a permit? Like, could they put “I do not like green eggs and ham” and it wouldn’t make a difference? If not, maybe don’t ask it?

Example: This is the state form for the “waste management plan.” Basically how are you handling your waste and who it dealing with it. 13 possible fields. What out of this does SF need to know? Turns out, nothing!

There is one company that picks up waste in the entire city. So why even ask? The answers are all going to be the same. One entire form, pretty much done away with.

So, here’s your start in being a heroic advocate rebel toddler. Question authority, with annoying questions! Write forms that people can actually answer! Do it for the user!

Because as we all know, it’s never just the form, or the content. It’s about life changing experience, such as opening a business. Thank you.