This was a massive milestone!
On Thursday, we laid the formal foundation for version 2 of the Service Standard for the German public sector.
Following a formal DIN standardisation process, led by the Federal Ministry of Interior and facilitated by Digital Service, we passed DIN SPEC 66336.
Wrapping up our service quality specification
DIN SPEC 66336 defines ‘quality requirements for online services and portals in public administration’.
42 organisations—public sector, private sector, NGOs and academia—were involved in shaping the specification. Before, our team interviewed 60 people—subject matter experts and users. The output of these interviews formed part of the input for the earliest draft of the specification.
As before and abroad, the users of the updated Service Standard are broad: service teams and procurement teams, service owners, senior digital leaders, folks working for IT suppliers and digital outcome providers at all levels. Finally, they have collaboratively created standards to work with. They didn’t until now.
The first version of Germany’s Service Standard was developed behind closed doors in the ministry during the pandemic. To my knowledge, there was no consultation or contribution from users or subject matter experts. They were only engaged after the standard was published but then did not receive any iteration.
The timeframe for developing the DIN SPEC was tight. We worked through this specification in less than 4 months. While it was challenging at times, the pace also created significant momentum. Even so that the very different parties got more and more ambitious in the past few weeks, aiming for more ‘MUST’s instead of ‘SHOULD’s in the standard.
We are in the final session for shaping a definitive standard for digital public services at DIN Institute. Some 40+ people from federal, state and local government, public IT providers, academia, and private companies are finding agreements on what good service developments need.
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) January 30, 2025 at 11:10 AM
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Following some editorial work by the DIN Institute, the DIN SPEC 66336 will be published in a few weeks—probably in the first half of March. In the meantime, we are preparing new accompanying guidance, an updated website, and printed material. We plan to do that in the open—on GitLab for interested folks to participate.
Then, the updated Service Standard must find its way to as many public servants as possible. That’s a substantial uphill effort. This will be the most challenging part because there are no formal mechanisms or channels for reaching all the people working on digital services across the country.
Turning the Service Standard into a well-known guidance framework depends on “The Social Life of Information” – as UC Berkeley professors John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid put it (and GDS’s Head of User Research Louise Petre referenced). Without public servants mentioning the standard, talking about it to their peers and actively using it, we cannot build momentum. We need to win over communicators and multipliers.
What we’ll have to show in a few weeks won’t be mandatory yet. The consultation around the related statutory instrument happens in parallel. Federal government liaises with the 16 states to decide and agree on the scope of application of the standard. That will be important.
Keeping momentum and breaking through a lot of noise from other topics will be difficult. Quality standards for public services are as appealing as other infrastructure topics. They are vital, but people don’t accelerate their careers with them. So, we’ll need to keep our narratives fresh and adapt them slightly all too often.
Participating in Demo Day
Show, don’t tell! Cause the proof is in the pudding. So, demonstrate what your digital government vision is! That’s what we did Thursday afternoon on Demo Day.
We invited senior civil servants, politicians and members of parliament to see our work on digital services up close. While others keep talking, we keep delivering. So, it was about time to make our ongoing work on justice, parental benefit and tax services more visible to officials and decision leaders. And discuss what German administration needs for the next parliamentary cycle.
Today, we invite to #DemoDay at @digitalservice.bund.de. Senior civil servants, politicians and members of parliament are invited to see the user-centred, iterative work on digital services we are doing up close. And discuss with us what German administration needs for the next parliamentary cycle.
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) January 30, 2025 at 4:49 PM
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Federal CIO Markus Richter and our CEO Christina Lang opened the afternoon, followed by joined introductions to the service areas we work in by our ministry partners and a DigitalService colleague. It showed the tight partnership of our collaborative approach to digital transformation work.
At 8 stations, 150+ participants could see and learn about the very tangible work we do – see live services in action, hear how we work, and discuss with us the future of these work streams. In addition, 1 extra station made our accessibility efforts tangible. Guests could see and try out our freshly published ‘Simulating accessibility personas’ Chrome extension. The interest was huge.
Live in the Chrome Web Store: Our extension ‘Simulating #accessibility personas’ is available and more easily installable. Building on the GOV.UK accessibility personas, @jonowak.eu built it for our internal testing routine at @digitalservice.bund.de. ⬇️ chromewebstore.google.com/detail/simul…
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) January 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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Afterwards, a panel discussion on “bug-fixing or system update for a digital Germany” with André Göbel, Ann Cathrin Riedel, Christina Lang, Luukas Ilves, Julia Jaekel, and Stefanie Kaste offered fresh angles on good future structures, strategies and setups for digital government in Germany.
It’s vital that we think by making and that we discuss ideas with quick prototypes and running services in our hands – instead of writing another white paper, ministerial submission, or strategic report.
Demo Day, the brainchild of our Chief of Staff & Strategy Magdalena, wonderfully came together over the past few months. But its core wasn’t new. It’s what we do every Thursday morning, all 180+ of us: We demo what we are working on and share it with everyone in our organisation. Now, dozens of hands and minds have pulled this extended version together, figuring out logistics, communications and operations.
Communications designers Bianca and Robin developed a terrific design across many touchpoints. My favourite pieces were collectable project cards synced with information screens, a range of posters and an animation presenting our success metrics.
Beyond the Demo Day, demo’ing our work continues. The next ‘Show the thing’ session on Thursday is around the corner. Externally, we do it via blog posts, conferences, and meetups. And to me, it feels like Demo Day might return next year.
Preparing the next international events
Besides these busy moments, Kara and I had 2 short calls looking ahead at our international activities until summer.
We talked to David from the EU Policy Lab on Wednesday about a joint event format around the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in early June.
We had another check-in with Jessica and Victor on Friday regarding the Amsterdam conference. More than half of the keynote speakers are confirmed. There are over 280 people registered so far – 10 days after registration opened. 74% are from the Netherlands, followed by the UK, Belgium and Germany. Kara and I will do an opening talk on the first day, 9 April. It will be exclusive to international folks and will also include excursions to Dutch ministries.
What’s next
We made some progress on goals for the delivery disciplines for the first half of 2025. But we aren’t done yet. So that work will continue next week.
Before Friday, I will have to work on an input on user-centricity for the Digital Council of Sachsen-Anhalt. I will have about 30 to 40 minutes. Hopefully, minister Dr Lydia Hüskens will be around for it.
With our senior content designer Torsten, I have 3 afternoon sessions blocked for working on the skill matrix for content design. I have reached out to my former UK colleagues for some input and reference points.
Besides, I will probably continue working on the mini branding for the updated Service Standard started last week.