September 2017 Summaries

In this episode of To Be Continuous, Edith and Paul discuss the challenges and benefits of refactoring monolithic applications into microservices. They examine various approaches for creating microservice boundaries and dispel the myth that they should be defined as small as possible. The podcast also covers topics such as continuous delivery, software development, AB testing, and feature flags.

The introductory blog post by Zuhaib, a Software Developer at LaunchDarkly, discusses his experience with feature flags and how they are used in the company to ensure a good user experience. He mentions that he previously worked for Atlassian where he first encountered LaunchDarkly as an alternative to their homemade solution. The post highlights how LaunchDarkly's advanced feature flags were utilized during a recent ElasticSearch cluster upgrade, allowing them to control rollout and monitor performance without impacting users. The code snippet demonstrates how the feature flag is used in this scenario.

LaunchDarkly has dedicated significant time to improving their console's speed and usability. However, they recognize that some users may prefer using an API for creating and managing feature flags. Since LaunchDarkly uses its API to drive the dashboard, it is easy for them to keep everything in sync when making changes to the API. They started with ReadMe for documenting their API but later switched to Swagger/OpenAPI due to its popularity, ability to generate code snippets and examples in various languages automatically, and ease of adding context and documentation. LaunchDarkly's REST specification is available on OpenAPI, and they continue to work on enhancing the documentation with examples, descriptions, and context. Users can provide feedback through their contact channels or directly in the repository.

Beta testing is crucial for understanding customer needs and ensuring product stability and security. Top companies often follow a similar approach to beta testing, emphasizing early and frequent testing in their production environment. Feature flags play a significant role in enabling safe and easy testing by separating deployment from release. Companies like Facebook, Hootsuite, Etsy, Instagram, Niantic, and GoPro use various strategies for smooth transitions from alpha to beta testing and full rollout. These strategies include dark launching, internal tests that become external canaries, regional rollouts, and incremental feature releases with their own testing timelines. Feature management tools like feature flags make these incremental rollouts easier and safer, allowing companies to be more efficient in exposing features to end users.

In the September 13th, 2017 episode of "To Be Continuous," Edith and Paul discuss Windows PowerShell with its creator. They also delve into product management, DevOps, and open source for enterprise in other episodes.

The Director of Engineering at an enterprise healthcare company is tasked with implementing efficient software development processes while maintaining security standards and compliance. Having moved from a tech startup to this established company, the director needs to adapt practices like continuous integration, feature branching, and feature flag first development. To ensure security in the cloud, the director considers private SaaS offerings as a middle ground between on-premise options and public SaaS providers. By choosing single-tenant cloud software with dedicated infrastructure, data storage flexibility, and customizable compliance features, the company can maintain secure operations while benefiting from the advantages of cloud computing.

Melissa, a designer experienced in UX, UI, branding, marketing, and strategy, recently joined LaunchDarkly after working at a large online retailer where she was part of a team building a sister site to test new shopping experiences. The challenge they faced was directing customers to the new platform without scaring away loyal users or disrupting sales. They decided on a Canary Launch, inviting a small percentage of a particular customer segment to view the website. This process allowed them to monitor the impact and increase visibility gradually. Melissa's experience with this release process led her to appreciate LaunchDarkly's SaaS product, which facilitates faster and less risky product releases. She is now committed to helping companies understand how LaunchDarkly can support their innovation efforts in a rapidly changing world.