Case study
Working alongside the Ministry of Justice, Opencast helped lay the foundations for better developer experience through improved governance, reusable tooling and a scalable developer portal.
Challenge
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) wanted to establish a new Developer Experience (DevX) capability within its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) function to help engineering teams work more effectively.
As the capability took shape, there was an opportunity to strengthen engineering governance, introduce more consistent ways of managing software repositories and create better access to engineering information. Just as importantly, the MoJ wanted to build a capability that could be owned and developed by its own teams long after the engagement had ended.
Response
Opencast worked in partnership with the Ministry of Justice to help shape the new DevX capability, bringing together expertise in DevOps, platform engineering and technical leadership.
Working collaboratively with MoJ teams, we developed a suite of reusable tools, standards and guidance that established stronger engineering foundations while supporting future growth.
Our work included:
Developing a reusable GitHub auditing capability to improve visibility and support engineering governance
Creating a repository governance framework with clear ownership and lifecycle standards
Designing and delivering a minimum viable Developer Portal, aligned to GOV.UK service principles, to provide a central home for technical documentation and engineering standards
Documenting processes and transferring knowledge to permanent teams, enabling them to confidently manage and develop the capability independently.
Rather than simply delivering technology, we worked alongside civil servants to embed modern engineering practices and help create a sustainable operating model for the future.
Impact
The engagement provided the Ministry of Justice with the foundations for a more consistent, sustainable approach to developer experience.
Today, the organisation has:
improved visibility of its engineering landscape
reusable tooling to support engineering governance
consistent repository management standards
a scalable Developer Portal ready to evolve with future needs
permanent teams equipped with the knowledge and processes to continue developing the service.
By combining technical delivery with capability building, Opencast helped establish a developer experience capability that will continue to support engineering teams as the organisation evolves.
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