It was a rather cosy round on Thursday evening. We got together for the first time this year for our public-facing meetup. Some 30 curious people joined us. Hosted at CityLAB Berlin again, we discussed ‘Better voting, better democracy’.
We heard from 2 organisations dedicated to supporting democracy and enhancing transparency within our government system.
Discussing how to fortify democracy
How do we help citizens vote for the political parties and candidates that match their preferences?
How can we ensure that elected officials act in our best interests and uphold their promises?
How do we verify their integrity and scrutinise their activities?
We were delighted to have Pamela Brandt, project lead for the vote-matching tool ‘Wahl-O-Mat’, kick things off. For over 20 years, she has been leading the probably most endured, well-known and successful citizen-facing tool the federal government has created. By rating 38 statements with agree, neutral or disagree, the user gets presented their matching rate with the political parties running in the election.
Pamela reported that the Wahl-O-Mat has been used 26 million times in the 2.5 weeks during the election run-up. In a survey, 10 to 20% of the users stated they were not interested in politics. Even in an age of little attention, the average person spends 9:40 minutes with the tool, which is remarkable. Since its introduction in 2002, the tool has been used around 160 million times. 85% of the users stated they enjoyed using the tool, and 69% talked to others about the results they got.
These are some impressive numbers. Participants even wanted to hear more stats when they could ask.
The second speaker was Anne Hoppe, project manager at Abgeordnetenwatch, the German pendant of the UK parliamentary monitoring website TheyWorkForYou. They presented the NGO’s offering, which also came with an MP match checker. It has been used some 1.2 million times in the past few weeks. Their page also allows constituents to write short questions for their MPs. Some answer very quickly, some don’t.
Both speaker took many questions. We even extended the question section by concluding with an added panel. “How can government and non-government institutions support democracy? Also, what can individuals do?”, I asked. “Write MPs more often”, Anne from Abgeordenwatch answered. The question of what should be focus areas in the coming years was mostly left unanswered.
As I mentioned earlier, when organising events like these, I am mostly driven by my own curiosity, and then I am happy that others want to explore these themes as much as I do.
Powerful discussions on ‘Better #voting, better #democracy’ tonight at @tsbberlin.bsky.social’s CityLAB at our 8th public sector meetup. We welcomed Anne Hoppe from @abgeordnetenwatch.de and Pamela Brandt from @bpb.de to talk about their democracy-informing work, informing some 20+ million people.
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) March 6, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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Earlier this week, I finished editing the previous meetup’s talks.
Nic’s talk was still missing. Now, it’s up on YouTube.
It’s a powerful story of a developer becoming an entire service team of one, creating comprehensive guidance and products for English-speaking citizens that the city of Berlin should be providing instead.
The public sector doesn’t always manage to do what people expect it to. Sometimes, engaged members of civic society step in to fill the gaps. At our last meetup, @allaboutberlin.bsky.social’s Nic shared how he created the most helpful website for immigrants in Berlin www.youtube.com/watch?v=50uO…
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) March 4, 2025 at 9:30 AM
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I still need to finish a few video recordings from earlier rounds.
Then, we already have the following two meetups on our calendars – although they have not been announced yet.
In early April, we want to discuss ‘Checks & balances’. We had planned that topic for December but struggled to get commitments from enough speakers before Christmas.
Then for Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 15 May, we want to discuss ‘Accessible for everyone’ – or something along those lines.
Connecting more loose dots
For the second time in a month, we synced with our colleagues working on the KERN Design System. We have made modest progress on the Service Standard and related guidance we need to produce. But that changed on Friday when we published the DIN specification underpinning the updated Service Standard. Quite a bit of attention went into preparing the publication – including making various graphics.
Working from this foundation, we can collaboratively develop content on top of it, including a more plain language version, case studies, thorough guidance and improved peer review templates.
Our KERN colleagues created some broader design guidance, which we jointly decided would instead fit with the Service Standard. We also touched on elements of the umbrella brand and its roll-out.
These are topics we would rather workshop in person, though. We aim to meet later this month in Hanover for the annual IT Planning Council conference. It’s exclusive to public servants, and it’s been quite a while since I last joined. Working across organisational borders in the German public sector remains rare.
I look forward to modelling some good practice here.
Putting another newspaper together
The Service Gazette Vol. 10, No. 1 is slowly coming together. Celebrating 10 years of the printed paper, we plan to publish the latest edition for the Amsterdam User Needs First conference in April.
Having completed the most recent edition for the Helsinki conference in October, it proves we just need a good deadline to work against.
We will make another 12-pager, and so far, we have 8 stories confirmed. Authors will have to send us their drafts by 21 March.
The next #ServiceGazette is coming together. It’s the printed newspaper for and from service innovators we have been making for 10 years now. We will have contributors from at least 5 different countries and regions 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇸🇬🇬🇧🇺🇸 – reflecting on current developments, their practice and future approaches.
— Martin Jordan (@martinjordan.com) March 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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I’m satisfied with the confirmed stories and look forward to putting the issue together. I hope it will be a little less rushed than the Helsinki edition. But that will only be partially up to me.
What’s next
On Thursday, we will have another exchange with our UK Ministry of Justice colleagues. I will also have an exchange with a colleague from the European Commission on Monday.
On Wednesday, we plan to have a half-day Service Manual content kick-off. I reckon I will have to undust some previous presentations for that.