In this episode, Amir Bormand sits down with Joe Emison, CTO and Co-Founder of Branch Insurance, to discuss how modern software development can be made cheaper, faster, and better. Joe shares insights from his book Serverless is a Game Changer and explains how embracing managed services and serverless architectures can lead to greater efficiency and scalability. He also dives into the cultural and organizational shifts required to truly optimize software development for speed and cost while reducing technical debt.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Managed Services = Speed & Efficiency – Leveraging third-party managed services allows teams to develop and scale faster while reducing maintenance burdens.

✅ Code is a Liability, Not an Asset – The more code you maintain, the more complex your system becomes. Focus only on writing code that directly differentiates your business.

✅ Continuing Education is Critical – Software development evolves rapidly, yet many CTOs and engineering leaders fail to keep up with new technologies.

✅ Breaking the Myth of IP in Code – Not all in-house software is valuable intellectual property. If a managed service can replace custom code, it often should.

✅ The Power of High-Velocity Development – Companies that iterate daily rather than monthly will always outpace their competition.

✅ DORA Metrics are Essential – If your team isn’t shipping multiple times a week, you need to rethink your development processes

✅ CTOs Must Stay Hands-On or Stay Informed – Leaders who lose touch with modern development practices risk making costly, outdated decisions.

Timestamped Highlights:

⏱ [00:02:00] – The evolution of software development: How managed services like Twilio have simplified engineering.

⏱ [00:05:00] – How Branch Insurance built a full-stack regulated insurance company with 1/30th of the engineering headcount of its competitors.

⏱ [00:08:00] – Why software leaders struggle with continuous education and how it leads to outdated development practices

⏱ [00:13:00] – The danger of engineering leaders making high-impact decisions without technical awareness.

⏱ [00:16:00] – The reality of technical debt and why sometimes rewriting from scratch is the best solution.

⏱ [00:21:00] – The biggest mistake companies make: Treating all code as valuable instead of focusing on high-impact differentiators.

⏱ [00:26:00] – The Shopify analogy: Why most applications contain large portions of non-differentiated, commodity code

⏱ [00:27:00] – Joe’s final thoughts: Optimize for business impact, not code complexity.

Quote from the Episode:

"The value of a business isn’t the amount of code it writes; it’s the experience it creates and the customers it serves. The less custom code you need, the better." – Joe Emison

Resources & Links:

📖 Joe’s Book: Serverless is a Game Changer

🔗 Follow Joe Emison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemastersemison

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