Advice for applicants in the interview phase: Avoid AI slop in our interview slides, and don’t speak like a large-language model either. It doesn’t get you further.

As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. In week 218, I participated in the presentation of a paper on common digital identity components and how they work in practice. I also worked on standard training, supported a qualitative study, and discussed spend controls.

As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. Week 217 brought the UCD discipline together for the yearly summer offsite. It’s bigger than ever, which demanded some collective reflection and sensemaking. During the week, I reviewed a paper and interviewed candidates.

#UserResearch #GovDesign job klaxon 🔔 PD is looking for a senior specialist UX research in either Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, München, Nürnberg, Stuttgart, or Wiesbaden. As always, you can find the role listed on my little job board: verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen

"We've reached a saturation point & start hitting the ceiling of the processes that regulate Earth system stability" states PIK Director Rockström. "The old economic paradigm doesn't work anymore: Exploiting the Earth for free without repercussions."👇 betterfuturemedia.substack.com/p/johan-rock...

Up now: ‘From legacy data to public infrastructure’ —my @digitalservice.bund.de colleague Nadine Stammen on what it takes to bring together government datasets to open them up to the public, and get them structured for AI use Recorded at #ServiceDesign Drinks Berlin at @wikimediade.bsky.social

“Departments treated these websites as communications products rather than services, which meant they did not need to meet GOV.UK’s Service Standard.” Strong investigation into #govdesign #accessibility by @contentdesign.london: ‘What 6 FOI requests reveal about government campaign websites’

Today is the last day to submit your session proposal for #FormFest2026! It’s the perfect place to share how you’ve used forms to improve government. Submit your proposal before 11:59 pm PT today: https://bit.ly/44au5TU Co-hosted with @beeckcenter.bsky.social#FormFest2026

“If your session were a dinner entree, what food would it be and why?” Dear @codeforamerica.org, what kind of question is that in your #FormFest submission form? 🫠

‘From legacy #data to public #infrastructure’ At the late-May #ServiceDesign Berlin Drinks, my colleague Nadine Stammen spoke about her work to make legal data openly accessible to everyone. The recording of her talk is now available on YouTube: verwaltungsgestaltung.de/notizen/2026...

So good! The poster will get a dedicated frame and place in the @digitalservice.bund.de office. 💚🩷

Using cross-gov community sessions to get work-in-progress feedback on #ServiceStandard handbook guidance works best! Today, @joshuanowak.eu runs a session on the new guidance he is writing. The Federal Printing Office, City of Munich, City State of Hamburg, PD, @digital-agentur.de offer feedback.

One in 🇩🇪 German: Earlier this month, at @tsbberlin.bsky.social’s CityLAB Summer Conference, Thomas Bendig from the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation and I spoke about the #ServiceStandard and the cross-government brand and design system. The recording is up.

Great to see more working in the open in German government. @sprind-de.bsky.social’s EU Digital Identity #Wallet project has thorough documentation about its design process and learnings transparently in GitLab: bmi.usercontent.opencode.de/eudi-wallet/...

Just used the community slot at #ServiceDesign Drinks Berlin – which I co-founded all the way back in 2011 – to advertise our open #ContentDesign and #UserResearch roles at @digitalservice.bund.de. The big QR code worked. Plenty of people pulled out their phones to learn more about our openings.

Why are digital #product people using terms most randomly? “The proof of concept is almost done; moving towards the minimal viable product next.” That’s something I heard from a government supplier last week. I have no idea where they are and what they do. Do terms have any meaning left in them?

I love working close to teams. I love seeing what they work on. I still spend various hours per week with a few teams, including the #ServiceStandard team. Today, we looked at visual regression tests for servicestandard.gov.de as part of our weekly sprint review. Good stuff!

As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. I was at a leadership offsite, where I participated in the annual salary cycle workshop and received useful training. I also co-published a blog post on delivery principles and interviewed more candidates for open UCD roles.

This week, we finally published the refined version of our delivery principles in version 1.2. These principles are written to maximise our impact within our distinctive setup at @digitalservice.bund.de as part of Federal government in Germany.

Success! 🎉 The talk got accepted, and my @digitalservice.bund.de colleague Nina and I will be speaking at #ServiceDesign Global Conference in Frankfurt/Wiesbaden in late October. Our working title is ‘Upstream impact: How service designers shape better policies’. Join us there!

It’s been a little while. #GovDesign job klaxon 🔔 The state-owned IT provider of Lower Saxony is looking for a #serviceDesign er and communications designer with a focus on user experience & user interface #design. Both roles are in the state capital, Hanover. verwaltungsgestaltung.de#positionen

You’ve got to train! Today, I enjoyed some exchange-heavy, framework-loaded, case-discussing leadership offsite in a beautiful new space linked to the Federal Ministry for the Environment. Coming from a subject-matter expert background, I must take time to improve my management & leadership skills

It’s real! Great to hold this little publication in my hands. For ‘Creative Bureaucracy: Where next & how?’, I wrote a piece on #AI in government titled ‘A tool to refine, not magic to fall for’. More about the publication here: creativebureaucracy.org/creative-bur...

As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. I went to Copenhagen for #FutureDays in my week 215. Before doing that, I spoke on a panel on #accessible services and inclusive organisations. I also saw a new government website I sketched 10 months ago finally go live.

“90% of what we need is there” “But how come incredibly amazing community projects aren’t able to survive?” “Do we lack the imagination?” “We need to luck at power, finance, land ownership and civic stewardship” – @immykaur.bsky.social in a #FD26 panel discussion with @christianbason.bsky.social

“By design, we dismantled our public infrastructure in the UK” “We need to unlock the creativity, skills and imagination of everyone to create a regenerative future collectively.” “We don’t need to repeat imperial practice from the past to flourish” – @immykaur.bsky.social at #FutureDays #FD26

“If we are open to a systemic change of heart, there are many possibilities” - Anab Jain, Co-Founder of Superflux, on a positive view on futures at #FutureDays #FD26

“The more digital our lives become the more we crave the physical.” Ilse Crawford (Quoted by Bas van de Poel from Modem at #FD26 #FutureDays)

“Vision without execution is hallucination” – Thomas Edison (Quoted by Bas van de Poel from Modem at #FD26 #FutureDays)

“We need to experiment our way forward.” “What helps us optimise: Analysis Planning Prediction Scaling What helps us navigate: Exploration Experimentation Sensemaking Learning” —Sara Gry Striegler at #FutureDays #FD26

“Everything we do has consequences. The question is: Is our doing worth the consequences?” – kicking off #FutureDays

On the night train from Berlin to Copenhagen, cause when travelling across the continent, the train is the default. It seems like the off-season, as the train is almost empty. Looking forward to attending #FutureDays with @laurenceberry.bsky.social and other #GovDesign folks

“We developed a 10-year design master plan for Singapore. For the first time, we opened this up to the public. The largest public call was for people adherent to design. 600 people showed up. We also had 6,000 contributions from the public in a box post.” – Dawn Lim, DesignSingapore Council

“We have about 400 designers and design-minded people in the city. We share stories internally. You need to have beacons.” – Hanna Harris, Chief Design Officer / City of Helsinki

“Have you landed at our airport? I’m not gonna ask you. It’s great! 7 minutes from embarking, through the customs, to the taxi — the experience with the airport is consciously designed.” – Dawn Lim, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council

“We are the biggest commissioners of the design in country” – Hanna Harris, Chief Design Officer, City of Helsinki

As a public servant, I write weekly notes to let people see what I do. In week 214, I co-presented at the CityLAB Summer Conference on ‘Services that work and build trust’. I also co-hosted an evening meetup on ‘Money and taxes’, worked on service design training and spoke to Norwegian colleagues.

On stage: Making services better and rebuilding trust with the state – Thomas Bendig from the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation & Government Modernisation and I spoke at @tsbberlin.bsky.social‘s CityLAB Sommerkonferenz about #ServiceStandard and #DigitaleDachmarke, the cross-gov brand

What a great evening on ‘Money and taxes’ at @digitalservice.bund.de last night. Our 3 speakers, @merici.bsky.social, Manuel Großmann from Taxfix, and Sonja Wilczek from @digitalservice.bund.de co-delivered a broader view on how governments can deliver better tax services that work for users.

About rebuilding the U.S. Digital Service and 18F in a future administration: “You have to have the imagination. And acknowledge the trauma [of the shutdown].” – @merici.bsky.social in conversation with @benjaminseibel.bsky.social at @tsbberlin.bsky.social’s CityLAB Sommerkonferenz

“Ambition in government is not a nice to have. It is a must have.” 💫 – @merici.bsky.social at @tsbberlin.bsky.social’s CityLAB Sommerkonferenz

‘Making the impossible, possible — how free tax filing brought ambition back’ @merici.bsky.social up on stage at @tsbberlin.bsky.social’s CityLAB Sommerkonferenz 2026

A reminder 🔔 Tomorrow, 2 June, we are running our 13th public sector innovation meetup on ‘Money + taxes’. 💶 We’ll hear from 3 great speakers: @merici.bsky.social, formerly with the USDS, Manuel Großmann from Taxfix, and Sonja Wilczek from @digitalservice.bund.de Join us from 6pm:

What a thread 😶

We can't go on living as we do. Electric cars + No Mow May won't cut it. We'll suffer more and more: heat, drought, wet, cold, food shortages, war, immigration. Our lives must radically change. While fending off fascism & technologically driven unemployment. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Spontaneously, we are discussing jobs-to-be-done in our weekly design meeting today. I am dusting 9-year-old slides made while working with Kieron Kirkland on GOV.UK Registers. I’d be curious to hear who else in #govDesign has been applying the #JTBD framework and related methodology.

An hour of servant leadership: Fellow delivery head @nfelger.bsky.social and I are co-delivering simultaneous translations from German to English during our Quarterly Connect for people who prefer English to German. It’s an activity I really like doing. It builds on our skills and helps colleagues

Join us next Tuesday, 2 June, for our 13th public sector innovation meeting. We’ll discuss ‘Money and taxes’, and take a closer look at research and design in public finance and taxation, exploring diverse perspectives from 3 speakers. One of them is @merici.bsky.social. 🤑 Register on meetup ⬇️

On Sunday, at UX Camp Europe 2026, I delivered a talk titled ‘A different kind: design in the public sector’ – returning to the bar camp 10 years after I spoke about my work at GDS and in #GovDesign for the first time. I shared 10 differences I see for design in the public sector. It’s recorded.

95% of the people we hire come from the private sector. But things aren’t the same, so I wrote a talk on 10 differences in the public sector. It was a bit rushed cause I started writing it early in the morning and then delivered it at 2 pm yesterday at #UXCE26 – in true spontaneous barcamp fashion