Implementation

Thinking of implementing feature flags to improve your development process, but not sure where to begin? Here are some tips to guide you at every stage of the implementation process:

Before selecting a feature management tool and figuring out if feature flags are for you, you should ask yourself what your current pain points are. 

What obstacles are your devs facing? What’s holding them back? What issues continuously arise in your development and production processes? 

Once your pain points are identified, you should identify your intended use cases. 

What exactly would you use feature flags for? What problems will they solve? Who will use them? 

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Research your platforms! 

This is important. The right feature management tool will exponentially increase your deployment frequency and improve your development processes. But there are a lot of tools out there–third-party tools, home-grown solutions, open-source platforms–how do you know which is best for your team? 

‍A few questions to ask yourself when evaluating tools:

Does the tool integrate seamlessly with other key tools in your tech stack? 

Will the tool improve your workflow?

Does it have SDK support for your dev teams’ particular languages?

Is it scalable (Does it support your growth or become more difficult to use as you grow? You’ll want to read lots of product reviews from current long-time users to be sure the tool supports your growth and innovation over time)

Is the tool intuitive, and easy for your less-technical users (i.e. the product team) to navigate?

Does it support cross-platform feature management (if need be?)

What level of support will you receive from their team in terms of onboarding, troubleshooting, etc?

Test it out! 

The decision to implement feature flags is an exciting one, but everyone’s decision making process is a little different. At DevCycle, our goal is to help you make that decision as quickly and easily as possible by catering to whatever your decision-making process may be: 

‍Hands-off:

You can test the platform out for yourself and sign up for a plan without ever speaking to someone on our end. If hands-off is truly your style, you can find everything you need to successfully implement DevCycle in our docs. (Of course, we’re always here if you have any questions, though!)

‍See a live demo:

‍Have questions that you want answered in real-time about what a feature management platform would look like in your own workflow? Our product specialists will tailor a demo specific to your needs and use cases, and help you get up to speed on implementation. 

Chat with a team member:

Have questions that you want answered in real-time about what a feature management platform would look like in your own workflow? Our product specialists will tailor a demo specific to your needs and use cases, and help you get up to speed on implementation.

At the end of the day, you know what’s best for your team. That’s why we place heavy emphasis on actually testing out our platform and seeing exactly what feature flags could do to improve your workflow. 

Thanks for reading DevCycle’s Guide to Feature Management! Should you have any feedback or questions, send us a message at hello@devcycle.com