Week #154 at the Digital Service: Notes for 7–11 April 2025

In week 154 at Digital Service, Martin travelled to Amsterdam for the 3-day User Needs First International Design in Government conference. He spoke, contributed to a podcast, recorded his colleagues’ sessions, had many conversations, and distributed the latest edition of The Service Gazette.

Week #152 at the Digital Service: Notes for 24–28 March 2025

Martin went westwards in his week 152 to attend the annual congress of the IT Planning Council in Hanover. He also witnessed another justice service going live and put in a 3-day vacation and weekend shift to get the latest Service Gazette to the finishing line.

Week #149 at the Digital Service: Notes for 3–7 March 2025

In his week 149 at Digital Service, the DIN specification underpinning the updated Service Standard for the German government was published. Martin co-ran a meetup on ‘Better voting, better democracy’. He also started planning out the upcoming Service Gazette.

Meetup: Filling the gaps

On 5 November, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘filling the gaps’ – how engaged members of civic society step in when public sector organisations don’t do what’s expected of them. Speakers included Lilith Wittmann from Bund.dev and Nic from AllABoutBerlin.com.

Week #147 at the Digital Service: Notes for 17–21 February 2025

The week before the general election in Germany, Martin contributed an article to Süddeutsche Zeitung Dossier comparing current developments in the UK and the US, reflecting on what Germany’s new government can learn from it. He also worked on objectives for the first six months and how the updated Service Standard should look.