Our Journey with Feature Flags

In our ongoing series about achieving the Fastest Value Delivery, we’ve discussed the pivotal shift from Gitflow to Trunk-Based Development and the adoption of tools like GitButler. Today, we dive into another game-changing strategy: Feature Flags. Here’s how they’ve transformed our workflow and enabled us to deliver value even faster.

The Technical Necessity of Feature Flags

Our journey with feature flags began out of necessity. Transitioning to trunk-based development and continuous delivery for our mobile app posed a significant challenge—rolling back or updating a mobile app version can take days in app stores. We needed a solution to enable seamless updates without the delays inherent in traditional app deployment processes.

This is where LaunchDarkly came into play. Its robust integration with JIRA and comprehensive SDK support for our tech stack made it an ideal choice. Initially, we utilized LaunchDarkly purely for technical reasons, allowing us to deploy new features and fixes quickly without waiting for app store approvals. This integration ensured that we could maintain our fast-paced development cycle and adhere to our trunk-based development principles.

Discovering New Use Cases and Challenges

As we continued to use LaunchDarkly, we introduced the tool to our product and marketing teams. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities, such as A/B testing and gradual feature launches. These capabilities allowed us to test features with a subset of users, gather feedback, and make data-driven decisions before a full rollout. However, as our usage expanded, so did our bill. The cost of using LaunchDarkly started to climb significantly, prompting us to explore alternative solutions.

Exploring Open Source and Finding Split.io

We considered using open-source feature flag tools to mitigate costs. However, maintaining the availability and performance of an on-premise feature flagging tool, along with the necessary SDKs—especially for Flutter—proved to be a daunting task. Critical features like caching required constant attention and resources. Realizing the high cost of maintenance, we decided to look for other options.

This led us to Split.io, a powerful feature flagging tool that met our needs more effectively and efficiently. Split.io’s robust infrastructure and feature set allowed us to continue our fast-paced development without the overhead of maintaining an on-premise solution.

Laravel Pennant: A Welcomed Surprise

In the midst of these transitions, we were thrilled to see our beloved framework, Laravel, release Pennant. Pennant is a feature flag library with a database driver and the ability to implement custom drivers easily. This flexibility ensures that we can switch providers without significant disruption, future-proofing our feature flag strategy.

You can read more about Pennant here.

Aligning Feature Flags with Fastest Value Delivery

Feature flags have been instrumental in aligning with our Fastest Value Delivery approach. Here’s how they contribute to our efficiency:

1. Seamless Deployment: Feature flags allow us to deploy new features incrementally, reducing the risk of widespread issues and ensuring a smooth user experience.
2. Rapid Iteration: With the ability to toggle features on and off, we can experiment and iterate quickly, responding to user feedback in real-time.
3. A/B Testing: By testing different versions of features, we can make data-driven decisions that enhance user satisfaction and drive better results.
4. Controlled Rollouts: Gradual rollouts enable us to monitor the impact of new features and make adjustments before a full-scale launch.

These benefits collectively accelerate our delivery process, allowing us to bring valuable features to our users faster than ever before.

Conclusion

Our journey with feature flags has been transformative, enabling us to maintain our commitment to delivering the fastest value. From overcoming technical challenges with mobile app deployments to leveraging advanced capabilities for product and marketing teams, feature flags have become a cornerstone of our development strategy.

We invite you to explore the possibilities of feature flags and see how they can revolutionize your workflow. Stay tuned for more insights and updates as we continue to share our experiences in achieving the Fastest Value Delivery.

Thank you for being part of our journey! ???

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with us. We’re excited to hear how feature flags have impacted your workflows!

#Innovation #FeatureFlags #FastestValueDelivery #StartupStudio #ContinuousDelivery #ValueDriven