Martin Jordan
@martinjordan.com
Making services work better for all people—Head of Design & User Research at the German govt’s Digital Service, previously Head of #ServiceDesign at the UK’s Government Digital Service, int’l #GovDesign community co-lead, 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 ally martinjordan.com
Ich möchte nicht, dass mir Politiker*innen und Journalist*innen erklären, dass es nunmal Demokratie sei, wenn mehrheitlich Nazis gewählt werden. Ich erwarte, dass sie verstehen, dass die Demokratie demokratisch abgeschafft werden kann und dass das Grundgesetz davor schützen sollte.
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. Last week’s notes were still missing. Now, they are published. I co-ran the GDS-developed ‘Introduction to #serviceDesign’ again – now linked to the #ServiceStandard. I also reflected on the lack of interest in service quality.
Week #226 at the Digital Service: Notes for 24–28 August
For the 5th time, Martin co-ran the GDS-developed ‘Introduction to service design’ in Germany. For the first time, it was deeply intertwined with the Service Standard. He also reflected on the lack of...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. I welcomed 5 new starters – 3 #userResearch ers and 2 #contentDesign ers – to the team in week 227. I co-ran a product review session with a justice service and helped prepare upcoming #ServiceStandard peer reviews.
Week #227 at the Digital Service: Notes for 31 August–4 September
Martin welcomed 5 new starters – 3 user researchers and 2 content designers – to the team in week 227. He co-ran a product review session with a justice service and helped prepare upcoming Service Sta...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
“The laws of physics don’t care about politics” Tonight at St. George’s Anglican Church Berlin, I got to see the 🇬🇧 National Emergency Briefing on the climate and nature crisis. It’s a powerful documentary very worth a watch – and a great starting point for community exchange: www.nebriefing.org
I’m really looking forward to speaking next week at #ÖffentlichesGestalten (an amazing event series I always love attending) and talking about what we’re doing at @sovereign.tech to secure and maintain the open software components that make up our shared digital infrastructure.
Martin Jordan@martinjordan.com · last wk.At our September meetup, we will hear what #digitalSovereignty entails, why it’s desirable and how we get there. We will hear from @sovereign.tech’s @powen.net, @digitalservice.bund.de’s Anke Obendiek & @deloittedigi.bsky.social’s Lisa Steigertahl. Join us on Wed, 9 Sept at @tsbberlin.bsky.social
At our September meetup, we will hear what #digitalSovereignty entails, why it’s desirable and how we get there. We will hear from @sovereign.tech’s @powen.net, @digitalservice.bund.de’s Anke Obendiek & @deloittedigi.bsky.social’s Lisa Steigertahl. Join us on Wed, 9 Sept at @tsbberlin.bsky.social
Meetup #14 — Building digital sovereignty, Wed, Sep 9, 2026, 6:00 PM | Meetup
European governments have created great external dependencies in their digital infrastructure. Much of public digital infrastructure depends on foreign components, platform
meetup.com
I love sketching and turning those sketches into posters. There are always little moments of frustration while working through a rough idea and making it real. Yesterday was such a Sunday afternoon again – as I had to produce the next poster for our upcoming meetup on ‘ #DigitalSovereignty ’
#GovDesign #jobs klaxon 🔔 The Bavarian State Library, @bsbmuenchen.bsky.social, is looking for a web designer to join them and help ensure digital access to its rich services. You can apply until 20 September. The role is listed on my little job board: verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen
Bad services are expensive. Good services are effective. An eternal task: Explaining to people how to develop services well. Evidence-based work is more expensive than assumption-based work at first. But the result is a service that meets its goals. And that doesn’t result in failure demand later
It’s starting! Our newly iterated ‘Introduction to #ServiceDesign’ training is kicking off this morning! After 8 years, we finally wove in the #ServiceStandard and linked the exercises to specific points. It’s terrific to keep iterating it together with Sabrina @feuerherd.bsky.social.
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. This week, I created mini-posters on service quality criteria for our upcoming #serviceDesign training. I also worked through an #accessibility report, discussed #prototype principles & reviewed the open roadmap #designPattern.
Week #225 at the Digital Service: Notes for 17–21 August
In week 225, Martin created mini-posters on service quality criteria for the upcoming service design training. He also worked through the findings of an accessibility report, discussed prototype princ...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
Hey internet, where in #Bristol can I buy nice birthday cards on a Saturday morning? 🎈 Thanks for any tips!
Sharing @cifountaine.bsky.social’s great prototyping principles here – cause the work is great and hasn’t been visible enough in my feed yet. It is the result of terrific community engagement during my beloved #ServicesWeek, with over 120 contributors. We’ll unpick it in tomorrow’s design weekly.
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. Last week, I bade farewell to a colleague in #userResearch, presenting a custom gift. I also finished a draft on naming government services for #ServiceStandard & had conversations about improving shared components in week 224.
Week #224 at the Digital Service: Notes for 10–14 August
Martin bade farewell to a colleague in user research, presenting a custom gift. He also finished a draft on naming government services and had conversations about improving shared components in his we...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. This time I was particularly slow. Last week, I worked on autumn talks on policy/service design. I also conducted accessibility testing, participated in a workshop on civic ledgers, and joined the #ServiceStandard Q4 planning.
Week #223 at the Digital Service: Notes for 3–7 August
Martin worked on his autumn talks on policy and service design in week 223 at Digital Service. He also did accessibility testing, participated in a workshop on civic ledgers and joined the quarterly p...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
#GovDesign #jobs klaxon again 🔔 At DigitalService, we are looking for a communications designer to support us as a working student – partially in Berlin, partially hybrid. Other roles at @digital-agentur.de & @md-bund.bsky.social Berlin-Brandenburg remain open: verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen
Fascinating writeup on why some DVLA digital services don’t work at night – by @daivaughan.uk. It shows real service transformation is hard, really hard. I heard most of it several years ago in service assessments. I wonder if things have changed another 1.5 years since this article was published
Why some DVLA digital services don't work at night
Every few months or so, somebody asks on social media why a particular DVLA digital service is turned off over night. Rather than answering it every time, I’ve decided to write this post, so I can poi...
dafyddvaughan.uk
“If things do go south […] the rest of us may have to be more inventive. For those of us who don’t have big bucks or hired guns to get us out of trouble, the next best thing is community.” – @chrissmaje.bsky.social in ‘Finding Lights in a Dark Age’ on #community and #ClimateCollapse
“I don’t think you become a researcher and be a good researcher if you want to be the most popular person in the organisation” —@leisar.bsky.social in conversation with @gerryscullion.bsky.social about her #userResearch leadership work at GDS, DTA, and Atlassian podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/t...
Even here, this form of solar panel at this height could easily be installed on grazing land and livestock grazed under it without the remotest bother. I would suspect that were you to offer connections and/or grants, there would be an absolute stampede of farmers towards this.
Alex Papadopoulos@egeasri.bsky.social · last mo.Italian researchers found that semi-transparent solar panels over olive groves increased olive yields by 12%, reduced water evaporation by 19%, generated clean electricity, and even improved olive oil quality. 🌿⚡🫒 #Agrivoltaics #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #ClimateSolutions
Dusting @designcouncil.bsky.social’s ‘Design for Public Good’ publication from 2013, then funded by the @ec.europa.eu, to review the public sector design ladder while writing our @sdingov.bsky.social talk on ‘ #Policy and #serviceDesign as one ’. Much of what was a concept then is a practice now.
We don’t do corporate stories, usually. We made an exception with ‘condens’, the #userResearch knowledge-base tool we are using at @digitalservice.bund.de, as this story allows us to give insight into how we work: condens.io/customers/di... Shout out to my colleagues Ellen and Leonie!
How DigitalService Closed the Gap Between Research and the Rest of the Organization
Learn how DigitalService scaled knowledge management as their team grew and made user research analysis noticeably faster and more focused with Condens.
condens.io
#GovDesign #jobs 🔔 klaxon There are now 6 open roles on my small job board: The @md-bund.bsky.social Berlin-Brandenburg is looking for a UX designer with a focus on AI applications. @digital-agentur.de is trying to hire 2 legal designers and a working student. verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen
As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. I joined the #ServiceStandard team’s onsite in my week 222. I invited people to upcoming training, worked on guidance and helped prepare peer reviews. I also met with the #accessibility testing team of the @itzbund.bsky.social.
Week #222 at the Digital Service: Notes for 27–31 July
Martin joined the Service Standard team’s onsite in his week 222. He also invited people to upcoming training, worked on guidance and helped prepare peer reviews. He furthermore met with the accessibi...
verwaltungsgestaltung.de
As the current batch seems sold out elsewhere: Found plenty of copies of #BadServices at PRO QM in Berlin-Mitte, an excellent bookstore for architecture and design. For our book club at @digitalservice.bund.de, I needed to find more copies. Cc @theschoolofgood.bsky.social @loudowne.bsky.social
“Policy and #serviceDesign as one – how Germany skips the silos” – is the promising title we’ve pitched for our @sdingov.bsky.social talk. On 23 September, my @digitalservice.bund.de colleague Nina Birri and I will be talking about how our policy discoveries lead to service transformation projects.
Using genderize.io is fascinating – in the cases I spot-check, it’s often so wrong. I understand that its confidence score depends on potentially limited datasets, but I wouldn’t feel confident using their API for bulk handling. The result could be very embarrassing.
#GovDesign #jobs 🔔 klaxon The City of Remscheid is looking for a designer to cover both interaction and visual design – branding and #UX design – for their technical unit dealing with waste management and street cleaning As always, the role is listed on my page: verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen
Talking about ensuring the #accessibility of #designSystem components — My colleague Marion will be speaking at: 16 September @codeforamerica.org’s FormFest 2026 🇺🇸 26–29 October NL Design System Week 🇳🇱 I’m excited about the opportunity to share our learnings at these free remote events.
How do you document #discovery outputs publicly? It’s something we strive for. As a result of an extended discovery on free school meals in Germany, the team—including @joseernestorodriguez.com— created a comprehensive project page to share all the insights & learnings: www.but.digitalservice.dev
