What we do is still uncommon: Developing digital government services in-house! Even in 2026, it remains an exception in Germany. Making it work has been a trial-and-error voyage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost all digital development still gets outsourced and procured. Unlike other European countries, Germany has never jumped on the in-housing bandwagon with confidence. Only a fraction of development happens at internal units like ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having worked in a unit of the UK Cabinet Office before, I found our setup a little odd: DigitalService is a limited company 100% owned by the Federal government. Moving here 4 years meant I was no longer a lifetime civil servant but an employed public servant. I don\u2019t work in a ministry but with and for a ministry. At DigitalService, we aren\u2019t the policy or service owners. Instead, our ministerial partners have the decision-making power. Sometimes \u2013 I need to admit that \u2013 I wish our setup were a bit different. But it\u2019s still the most useful setup we can have for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we learned, we put into 12 delivery principles. These principles are specific to our unique context. And we iterated these as we learned more. Now, 2 years since their creation, we are at version 1.2, our third edition, and we have finally taken the time to blog about them<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These principles are written to maximise our impact within our distinctive setup. So we reference them regularly, and they have been part of the onboarding of all new starters since 2024:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n