In week 163, Martin joined discussions with ministerial stakeholders on the ongoing Service Standard and the umbrella brand work. He participated in an expert interview with a former 18F researcher while his colleagues published a blog post about professionalising the user research profession at Digital Service.
Autor: Martin Jordan
Week #162 at the Digital Service: Notes for 2–6 June 2025
The Creative Bureaucracy Festival took place again. Martin co-ran an international workshop on ‘design for policy’ and accompanied the launch of the updated Service Standard.
Talk: Protecting our practice
At the 2025 User Needs First Amsterdam conference, Kara and Martin reflected on current events and discussed what the government design community can do to protect its practice. Their talk has been recorded and is available on YouTube.
Week #161 at the Digital Service: Notes for 26–30 May 2025
Working week 161 at Digital Service was a bit short for Martin. He welcomed a delegation from Jordan, who were interested in good public service development. Together with his colleague Sonja, he also shared how the user-centred design discipline grew in the past few years at Digital Service in a cross-government exchange format.
Conference: Amsterdam User Needs First 2025
Colleagues from the Digital Service were very much present at the Amsterdam User Needs First 2025 Conference, giving keynotes and talks and participating in panel discussions and podcast recordings. Various talks were recorded and are now available on YouTube.
Meetup: Accessible for everyone
On 15 May, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘Accessible for everyone’ on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Speakers included Danny Koppenhagen from DB Systel and Marion Couesnon and Susanne Henatschel from Digital Service. They demonstrated the German public sector’s efforts to design and develop the most inclusive products and services.
Week #159 at the Digital Service: Notes for 12–16 May 2025
Week 159 at DigitalService included Global Accessibility Awareness Day, for which Martin and colleagues set up the first version of an accessibility awareness and testing lab. Martin also co-ran 2 related events, internationally and locally.
Meetup: Checks & balances
On 2 April, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘Checks & balances’ – how we apply healthy scrutiny to strengthen trust in democracy and our current form of government. Speakers included Dr Niklas Kossow from CityLAB Berlin and Ann Cathrin Riedel from NExT.
Week #158 at the Digital Service: Notes for 5–9 May 2025
In week 158, the new government took over, and the first-ever Ministry for Digitalisation and State Reform was created. The minister was appointed and got a significant remit. Martin participated in roll-out and kick-off workshops for design systems and a cross-government brand. He also prepared events for the upcoming Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
Week #157 at the Digital Service: Notes for 28 April–2 May 2025
In week #157, Martin went on 2-day integral leadership training, participated in a Service Standard content review workshop and learned about the new incoming minister for digital.