Trade-offs and when not to use flags

Coding Chats episode 58 - John Crickett and Melinda Fekete delve into the concept of feature ops, emphasizing the importance of managing code in production effectively. They discuss feature flags as a mechanism for safe testing and releasing of code, the challenges of managing feature flags, and the significance of user feedback in software development. The conversation also touches on deployment strategies like canary releases, learning from recent outages, and the benefits of testing in production. Additionally, they explore the role of feature flag providers and the trade-offs associated with adopting feature flags in software projects.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Feature Ops

02:46 Managing Feature Flags Effectively

07:41 Deployment Strategies: Canary Releases and Gradual Rollouts

12:23 The Importance of Dogfooding and User Feedback

15:05 Learning from Recent Outages

19:13 Testing in Production and Its Benefits

21:51 Managing Feature Flags at Scale

27:01 Feature Flag Providers and Their Benefits

30:50 Involving Product Teams in Feature Flag Management

31:45 Trade-offs and Downsides of Feature Flags

39:35 Exploring Related Content

Melinda's Links:

A guide on working with feature flags in code: https://docs.getunleash.io/guides/manage-feature-flags-in-code

Open-source repo: https://github.com/Unleash/unleash

John's Links:

John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncrickett/

John’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johncrickett

John's Twitter: https://x.com/johncrickett

John's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/johncrickett.bsky.social

Check out John's software engineering related newsletters: Coding Challenges: https://codingchallenges.substack.com/ which shares real-world project ideas that you can use to level up your coding skills.

Developing Skills: https://read.developingskills.fyi/ covering everything from system design to soft skills, helping them progress their career from junior to staff+ or for those that want onto a management track.

Takeaways

Feature ops focuses on managing code in production effectively.

Feature flags allow for safe testing and releasing of code without redeployment.

Managing the lifecycle of feature flags is crucial for maintenance.

Canary releases and gradual rollouts help mitigate risks during deployment.

User feedback is essential for improving software products.

Recent outages highlight the need for better feature management practices.

Testing in production can catch issues that staging environments may miss.

Feature flag providers offer tools for managing flags at scale.

Trade-offs exist when adopting feature flags, especially for smaller projects.

Effective management of feature flags can empower teams and improve deployment speed.