Technology capability building at Ministry of Justice
We upskilled the team at the Legal Aid Agency as it migrated to the public cloud.
The project
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) wanted to build modern software capabilities in a team usually tasked with maintaining legacy applications in the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The LAA was preparing to modernise legacy applications and hand over responsibility for some cloud-based applications to this team, so needed to prepare it for change.
Our approach
The technology skills enablement began with a small Made Tech team going onsite at the LAA to interview staff and observe working practices. During this time, we mapped capabilities and skills throughout the team, producing a skills matrix for every individual team member.
From here, we defined a new set of technology standards with LAA developers. We also helped restructure delivery teams so every individual was in a single team with valuable delivery goals. The Made Tech team then distributed themselves across these newly formed LAA teams, providing hands-on coaching and direction over the course of 6 months.
“The Made Tech folk have had a real impact on the culture and capability of our team.”
Luke Crosby, Head of LAA Digital
The results
To date, we have trained 40 LAA team members in modern technology capabilities and ways of working. These include agile practices and a range of new languages, tools and processes, which have transformed how the agency delivers digital services.
- 40 LAA team members upskilled
- Agency restructured to improve tech approach
- Teams restructured for agile ways of working
“We want to build a deeply skilled digital and technology team and will achieve this by establishing strong digital professions based on the Government Digital Service (GDS) Digital, Data and Technology capability framework.”
MoJ digital and technology strategy, November 2019
The results
Over 6 months, we embedded new languages, tools and ways of working.
- Ruby Python, GitHub and AWS
- Pair programming, code reviews, showcases and retrospectives
- Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery
- Test-driven development
- High speed iteration and fast product delivery
Case studies
Modernising the court results system for Ministry of Justice
We modernised the Bichard 7 application for the Criminal Justice Secure Exchange (CJSE), increasing maintainability and refactoring the code.
Building a seamless, supportive experience for witnesses with Citizens Advice
We guided Citizens Advice through an agile technical discovery to increase the efficiency and sustainability of their Witness Service.
