Matt Shaver

Matt Shaver

CTO & Co-Founder

Posts from Matt Shaver

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Mar 1, 2022 in Culture

BrainGu's Remote First Workplace Philosophy - Distributed Talent Network

This blog post is based on the original 2012 white paper which got BrainGu off the ground. It was submitted to the DOJ to demonstrate our ability to execute on government contracts with a hybrid approach.

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Sep 4, 2025 in From Our Experts, Platform Engineering

3 Laws of Vendor-Lock Safety

Vendor lock-in is rarely visible at the start. It hides in the fine print, in proprietary formats, and in opaque APIs. At BrainGu, we believe freedom from lock-in isn't optional—it's the foundation of sustainable innovation.

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Oct 2, 2025 in From Our Experts, Platform Engineering

How We Slashed Our CI Pipeline Costs with Developer MacBook Pros

Running CI pipelines for multiple developer branches is essential in ensuring code quality and security, but the more devs we had, the more we saw our cloud costs skyrocket.

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Oct 8, 2025 in From Our Experts, Platform Engineering

The Shift from Platform Engineering Glory to Developer Empowerment

The only metric that matters: mission outcomes. Can your devs ship working, secure software faster and with less cognitive load? If yes, your platform is winning. If not, you’ve built a museum.

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Dec 2, 2025 in From Our Experts

The Paradigmatic Difference Between a Software Project and a Software Product

In software, 'project' and 'product' aren't just different labels—they represent two entirely different paradigms. Understanding the difference determines whether your team spends its time building capability or delivering value.

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Dec 10, 2025 in Platform Engineering

The Power of Platform Constraints: Why Boundaries Make Better Builders

Ironically, the freedom that was meant to empower teams ends up overwhelming them.

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Dec 17, 2025 in From Our Experts

The Aerodynamics of Building Products vs Consulting in the Defense Innovation Ecosystem

Product lift beats services drag. In defense, the teams that standardize on productized platforms compound speed, security, and learning. Services can be useful, but service-heavy delivery adds friction that kills timelines and blows budgets.

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Dec 24, 2025 in From Our Experts

Matthew Shaver's School for Developers Who Don't Code Good

A tactical field guide for engineers shipping software in high-security, high-stakes environments.

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Jan 7, 2026 in From Our Experts, Platform Engineering

The Hidden Costs of "Free" Software: Flexibility vs Commercial Polish

Open source is never free. Not in regulated environments. Not in DoD mission systems. Not in any place where uptime, security, traceability, or accreditation matter. You can get incredible capability from open ecosystems, but if you want something that actually holds up in production, you will pay for it one way or another.