We use cookies to provide the best possible user experience on our site. Some cookies are necessary for the proper functionality of our website. With your consent, we use other cookies in order to anonymously record and evaluate the use of our website or to offer you services from external media (such as YouTube or Google Maps). Depending on your settings, certain functions may not be available. Details on cookies used can be found in our Data Privacy.
A contribution by Christina Lang, CEO at DigitalService, after the 2025 federal election.
The past few weeks of the election campaign have made me think again and again: How can we succeed in making the digitalization of Germany and the urgently needed reforms in the state a real political priority? How can we create a positive radicalism that is committed to the common good?
Agile coaching
The goal of agile coaching is to enable people, teams and organizations to deal with constant change, to solve problems independently and thus enable more autonomy.
Application programming interface (API)
Programming interface or application interface - interface in a software that allows the exchange of data or the functional connection of two applications or parts of an application.
AusweisApp2
The AusweisApp2 is a software for the use of the online ID card, which is provided and further developed by Governikus GmbH & Co KG on behalf of the Federal Office for Information Security.
Beta version
Productive running, real version of the software, but which is either still limited in functionality or may still contain bugs.
Bug tracking
Describes the process of testing software, in which bugs or errors are logged and monitored.
Chatham House Rule
The Chatham House Rule states that participants in an event may speak freely about the content discussed, but may not reveal the identity or (organizational) affiliation of the speakers. The aim is to promote open discussions without individual participants being held responsible for their statements.
Closed captions
Accurate transcription of media content including sounds, tones and music shown in parallel during playback.
Cloud
An operating model (and associated environment) in which computing power and/or storage capacity is decoupled from the physical location of the users and offered as a service over the Internet. The application code is not executed on the device or server on site, but in a data center that is often spatially remote.
Code of Conduct
A code of conduct in development projects is a set of rules that defines respectful behavior and ethical standards for everyone involved.
Commit
A commit is a record of changes to the source code in a version control system that records the current status of development.
Community of practice
Exchange between people who face similar challenges and tasks. Practitioners exchange experiences with practitioners. They come together to solve problems, share best practices and learn from each other. In a community of practice, informal learning takes place, which is not only promoted by formal structures, but above all by the interaction and cooperation of the members.
Continuous delivery
Continuous delivery (CD) is a software development practice in which software can be continuously deployed to production environments. By automating build, test, and deployment processes, reliable and efficient delivery of software is achieved to enable faster time-to-market and continuous improvement.
Continuous integration
Continuous integration (CI) is a software development method in which developers regularly integrate their code into a common version control system in order to detect conflicts at an early stage and ensure code quality. Automated build and test processes enable efficient collaboration within the development team.
Deployment pipeline
A deployment pipeline in software development automates the process from code development to delivery. It includes steps such as code and security tests, integration, build and deployment.
DevSecOps
DevSecOps is a software development practice that integrates security throughout the DevOps process. It involves collaboration between developers, IT operations teams and security professionals to address security issues from the outset and ensure continuous security testing, monitoring and compliance.
Digital ecosystem
A socio-technical system that, in addition to technical products and services as well as technologies, explicitly includes organizations and individual actors as well as their relationships with one another.
Digital plattform
Forms the core technical aspect of a digital ecosystem and thereby realizes the service.
Digitalcheck documentation
The Digitalcheck documentation serves as proof of a legislative initiative's digital compatibility. It supports federal administration staff in applying the five principles of digital-friendly legislation to their regulatory matters. This documentation forms the basis for the National Regulatory Control Council’s (NKR) assessment of digital compatibility.
Discovery
An umbrella term for activities related to product development that aim to explore or "uncover" the expectations and needs of users and the environment in relation to a problem. Can take place as a stand-alone phase and/or continuously as part of the development process.
eID client
An eID client is software that can be used to use the online ID function and identify oneself on the Internet. It handles the encrypted data exchange between the ID card and the respective application.
Ex ante
Ex ante instruments or measures for better regulation or regulatory impact assessment are those that are already used during the drafting of new regulations. For example, to assess possible costs or effects on the environment and society during the drafting process. Correspondingly, ex post measures are those that measure the costs and effects incurred after a regulation has been adopted and entered into force, for example via evaluations, surveys by the Federal Statistical Office or so-called practice checks.
Feature toggles
Feature toggles, also known as feature flags, are mechanisms in software development that allow specific features or functionalities of a program to be enabled or disabled. By dynamically toggling features, developers can develop, test, and deploy changes independently without having to branch the code.
Fellowship
An established model in science and research for the interdisciplinary exchange of experience. In this case, fellows are experienced experts on specific topics and/or scientists who make their knowledge and findings available to other institutions by collaborating on projects for a limited period of time.
fulfillment cost
The fulfillment cost is a measure of the consequences of laws. It comprises the time and expense incurred by citizens, businesses, and the administration in complying with legal requirements. This includes, for example, documentation and reporting obligations.
GitHub
Public network-based platform for publishing software projects and code. Based on the decentralized version management Git for software development projects.
Hashing
A cryptographic process for validating the authenticity and integrity of data, among other things. In addition to hashing as a process, there are also so-called hash functions that are used in authentication systems to prevent passwords from being stored in plain text.
Hygiene factor
Hygiene factors are factors such as salary, which lead to dissatisfaction if they are missing, but not necessarily to satisfaction if they are present. These factors are often taken for granted. However, if they are missing, this is perceived as a lack. This distinguishes them from motivators such as recognition and appreciation, which contribute to satisfaction.
Interview
A qualitative research method in which individuals are specifically interviewed to understand their needs, expectations, experiences, motivations, or problems in connection with a particular product, service, or usage context.
Iterative
Iterative refers to a continuous and gradual approach to a goal or solution. Results are informed and improved through the continuous repetition of steps such as design, testing, and evaluation.
Jobs-to-be-done framework
The jobs-to-be-done framework is an approach for user-centered strategic thinking. It involves identifying and prioritizing processes, problems, and people's needs in the context of a task to be performed. Potential fields and product/service ideas can be derived from this.
Minimum viable product
Minimum viable product (MVP) for early customer use, to avoid the risk of development past real needs via early confrontation with real use.
MIT License
The MIT license is a short, permissive open source software license that allows the use, modification and distribution of software with minimal restrictions.
Mob programming
Mob programming is an agile development method in which an entire team works together on a computer. All team members are actively involved in the development process and regularly take turns to write, test and improve code together.
NFC interface
NFC stands for near-field communication. The technology enables the contactless exchange of data over very short distances. It is also used when paying with a smartphone at the supermarket checkout.
Observability
Observability refers to the ability to monitor and understand the state of a system through logging, metrics and traces.
One thing per page
Splitting the web form into individual smaller steps so that each page contains only a single piece of information or query.
Open source
Term for software whose source code can be viewed publicly and by third parties, modified and used under certain conditions, depending on the license.
Pair programming
Pair programming is an agile practice where two developers work together to collaborate on code. One person takes the "driver" role, writing the code, while the other person acts as an "observer", providing feedback and identifying issues.
Phishing
The word "phishing" is composed of the English words "fishing" and "password harvesting". The neologism describes a fraudulent practice of obtaining personal data such as passwords or credit card numbers using fake websites, emails or short messages.
Privacy by default
Default privacy option settings to be as privacy-friendly as possible.
Privacy by design
Protect the privacy of users through technical or organizational measures, e.g., by pseudonymizing stored data. Consider the privacy of users from the outset in every product, design and engineering decision, not impose it on a system later.
Production operation (live operation / effective system / live operation)
Make one software available to all users - as opposed to testing or developing only for developing teams.
Prototype
Simple technical or design test model of a proposed solution that quickly tests or validates ideas, design assumptions, and other conceptual aspects at an early stage. Final implementation for the target product can be done in other ways.
Public Value Creation
Public value creation describes value creation in a public context, i.e., the creation of social added value, for example, through the provision of public infrastructure and services. The goal is not profit, but rather the promotion of the common good, sustainability, quality of life, and trust in institutions.
README.md-Datei
A README.md file is an information document in Markdown format that provides users with an overview of a software project, its functions and instructions for use.
Repositories
Code Repositories sind digitale Speicherorte zur Verwaltung, Versionierung und Zusammenarbeit an Softwarequellcode.
Retros
Retros are regular meetings in teams in which the past work phase is looked back on. They discuss what went well and what can be improved to make future work phases more efficient and enjoyable. Three central questions are often asked: What went well? What didn't go so well? And what can be done better?
Roadmap
Rough development plan in which problems and development ideas are prioritized for the coming period.
Screener
Short questionnaires or checklists used to identify suitable participants for a user research study. They help ensure that interview or test participants meet certain criteria—such as age, profession, user experience, or specific life situations.
Scrum
Scrum is an agile process model for product development, particularly in software development. It is based on iterative and incremental processes to enable flexible responses to changes. Scrum promotes collaboration among self-organizing teams and defines fixed roles. The focus is on continuous improvement and delivering functional product components at short intervals.
Secrets management
Secure management of sensitive information such as passwords, API keys and certificates.
Service agreements
Service agreements are binding regulations between the department (e.g. a federal ministry) and the respective staff council. They regulate specific working conditions that are not already covered by laws, collective agreements or general administrative regulations. They are legally binding for employees and the department.
Silent launch
A launch usually refers to the introduction of a new product, which is usually prepared and accompanied by marketing or PR campaigns to generate the greatest possible attention. A silent launch, on the other hand, takes place "quietly" and without too much accompanying communication.
Sprint
A sprint is a fixed period of time – usually one to four weeks – during which an interdisciplinary team works on specific tasks or goals. The aim is to deliver a working intermediate product or tangible result by the end of each sprint. Sprints are a core element of agile methodologies such as Scrum.
Tech4Germany fellowship
Three-month program that brings together up to four talented individuals from the fields of product management, UI/UX design and software development with three to five digital pioneers from federal ministries and the federal administration. The goal is to develop prototype software products for concrete digital projects of the administration using user-centric and agile methods.
Trunk-based development
Trunk-based development is an agile development method in which all developers work directly on the main branch (trunk) of the version control system. Small, incremental changes are often integrated to identify conflicts early and enable continuous integration and deployment.
Usability test
Testing of a system by test persons for user-friendliness, functionality and design.
User experience
User experience (UX) describes the holistic experience that users have with a product or service. It includes factors that can be influenced, such as findability, usability, and functionality, as well as factors that cannot be influenced, such as life situation, prior knowledge, and current ability to concentrate.
User journey
The user journey depicts the points of contact of a target group that arise throughout the entire use of a service, ideally from the first information about the use of a digital service to the final decision.
User research
Research into the needs and requirements of a target group, the results of which can be used as a basis for product development and marketing strategy. Often differentiated into qualitative (observation, interviews) and quantitative (surveys, statistics).
Versioning
Versioning makes it possible to show the changes made to a software program by its further development over time. The version number indicates how significant the respective changes are: Minor improvements or enhancements are documented as a change in the minor version number (version 1.1 to 1.2). Extensive changes, on the other hand, result in a new major version number (version 1.2 to version 2.0).
Widget
An element built into applications such as apps or websites that users can interact with to display external content. A widget ensures a consistent design and can be updated without the need for individual service providers to take action.
Work4Germany fellowship
Six-month program for transformation experts with strong methodological skills from the private and nonprofit sectors and committed employees from federal ministries and the federal administration. In tandems, work processes are redesigned and cross-departmental challenges are worked on together. Focus: Experiencing iterative and methodical ways of working.
