A Chatbot Invents a Refund Policy Jake Moffatt asked Air Canada’s website chatbot about bereavement fares after a death in his family. The chatbot told him he could book now and apply for a discount within 90 days. No such policy existed. When he applied, the airline refused. A Canadian tribunal ruled against it, ordering […]

A Form That Times Out It is 11pm and a parent is renewing a benefit online, because 11pm is the only quiet hour in the day. The form runs to six screens. On screen five, after a pause to dig a reference number out of a drawer, the session expires. The entries are gone. There […]

A Checkmark Before the Click A user types a new password into a signup form. At the eighth character, a small gray circle beside the words “at least 8 characters” turns into a green checkmark. Nothing has been submitted. The form has simply said, instantly, that one rule has been met. That checkmark is a […]

The Bait and Switch Pattern It is week three of a website redesign. A project manager who was never on the original call joins and asks to be caught up. The person who was on that call, the one who nodded along while you explained why the events calendar has to stay, why your development […]

Small Frictions, Big Barriers Light grey text on a white background. A button so small it takes three taps to register. A paragraph so wide the eye loses its place halfway through and has to start the line again. Most people hit all three this week without naming any of them. Those are accessibility failures. […]

Srini Penumella, CEO of Spruce Technology, Wins the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 New Jersey Award We are delighted to announce that Srini Penumella, the CEO of Spruce Technology, has been honored with the esteemed Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 New Jersey program award. This recognition highlights Srini’s exceptional leadership, vision, and accomplishments in transforming […]