Release Software Confidently with Feature Flags

Let’s face it, deploying new software features to production can be nerve wracking. The anticipation builds, you push the button, and then, you hope that all the monitoring, alerting and testing you’ve done will mean a successful deployment. But, will it be a smooth ride, or will you be left you scrambling to fix things while users wait patiently or quietly go to the competition? Will you even know if there’s been a failure? Where’s that rollback button again? Do we even have one, and do I even have the right permission to use it in my infrastructure consoles? What does it even look like?

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many software teams struggle with fear of large, risky releases. And rightly so. Every deployment carries the potential for unforeseen bugs, negative user experiences, and frustrating rollbacks. This is why there’s a generally accepted rule of “no deploy fridays” because people want to be able to enjoy their weekends. This is where the power of feature flagging comes in. If you measure your team’s performance through the the DORA metrics:

• Deployment Frequency: How often a team successfully releases to production
• Lead Time for Changes: The amount of time it takes a commit to get into production
• Change Failure Rate: The percentage of deployments causing a failure in production
• Time to Restore Service: How long it takes to recover from a failure in production

Then feature flags can help improve all these metrics.

What Exactly Are Feature Flags?

In short, they’re a set of on/off switches built right into your application. They allow you to toggle specific functionalities – features – on or off, without having to redeploy your code.

Another way to think about it is like this: you’ve developed a brand new shopping cart design. Instead of launching it to all users at once and crossing your fingers, you can use a feature flag to release it to a small percentage of users first. You can monitor their behavior, catch any issues early, and make adjustments without impacting everyone.

This is far from the traditional “all-or-nothing” approach to deployments.

Control your releases

The most basic form of a feature flag is an on/off switch, but there’s additional powers they can give you and the team in confidently releasing code. They enable teams to take advantage of a bunch of deployment strategies:

• Targeted Rollouts: Want to give early access to beta users? What about only letting the QA team or the Product Manager have access to the feature in production? Roll out a feature to a specific user segment based on defined cohorts.

  

• A/B Testing: Run multiple versions of a feature side-by-side, using flags to direct different user groups to different experiences. Collect data to determine which version performs best.

• Canary Releases: Gradually expose a new feature to a small portion of your overall user base. Monitor performance and user feedback, and if all goes well, incrementally increase the rollout percentage.

  

• Emergency Kill Switches: If a problematic feature goes live, you can instantly disable it with the flick of a flag, minimising disruption and giving you breathing room to address the issue.

Confidence, Speed, and Innovation: The Feature Flag Trifecta

Implementing feature flagging within your development workflow can significantly impact your team’s productivity and overall success. Here’s how:

• Reduced Risk: Deploying new code is less scary when you’re not betting the whole farm on each release. Feature flags allow you to release small, incremental changes with far less risk.
• Faster Iteration: By separating deployment from release, you can deploy code more frequently. You can keep your codebase moving forward while keeping new features hidden from users until they are ready. This faster iteration enables experimentation and rapid development cycles.
• Increased Agility: You can adapt quickly to changing requirements and customer needs. If a particular feature doesn’t resonate with users, you can easily disable it and pivot your focus.
• Enhanced User Experience: By releasing features carefully and gathering data-driven feedback, you can provide users with a more positive and polished experience.
• Peace of Mind: When teams are equipped with the ability to control and quickly revert releases, it boosts their confidence in what they are building. This sense of control reduces stress and allows developers to focus on innovation.

Getting Started with Feature Flagging (and a little help)

Implementing feature flags might sound complex, but RocketFlag makes it incredibly easy to integrate into your existing development workflow. With a clean and simple console, an SDK for Node (with more coming soon!), you can start leveraging the benefits of feature flagging within minutes, without the complexity of building your own solution from scratch.

The Road Ahead

Of course, I’m going to be advocating for feature flagging since I built RocketFlag. But I firmly believe that feature flags are not just a trend. Moreover, it’s a foundational practice for modern software teams. It provides the control, visibility, and confidence needed to deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently. In upcoming posts, I will delve deeper into specific patterns using feature flags, and how you can leverage them within your team to build upon your DevOps practices. I’m also going to be whipping up a few YouTube videos showing how easy it is to use.

Stay tuned!

Try RocketFlag and see for yourself and your team how feature flags can help you release more confidently by bringing them into your development process and release on Fridays!

— JK @ RocketFlag