October 2017 Summaries

The text discusses Velocity conference where ideas about the future of software and companies are shared. Mike Hendrickson talks about LaunchDarkly and feature management as a best practice for continuous integration and deployment. Feature management allows testing features in production before making them visible to all users. The speaker is excited about the possibility of providing users with personalized experiences based on their needs. A video related to feature management and LaunchDarkly is recommended for further learning.

LaunchDarkly's JavaScript SDK enables access to feature flags in client-side JavaScript. However, due to the untrusted environment of browsers, it works differently from their server-side SDK. To maximize security when using client-side feature flags, companies should follow three best practices: 1) Choose appropriate use cases for client-side feature flags; 2) Enable Secure Mode to protect customer data; and 3) Use a package manager to bundle the SDK. These practices help ensure that your use of client-side feature flags keeps your data and customers' data safe.

LaunchDarkly uses feature flags within their development cycle for testing in production and mitigating risks. They identify features based on customer requests and feedback, then test with actual end users in production by turning features on for specific users or groups. Beta testing typically lasts two weeks to a month, during which they gather feedback and improve the feature before rolling it out to all users. Embracing failure is crucial as it helps identify major bugs early on. Currently, LaunchDarkly is in beta for scoped access tokens and a new faster .net SDK, seeking user feedback.

GoPro's Senior Engineering Manager, Andrew Maxwell, discussed reducing risk in product launches with the CTO of CircleCI. His team successfully delivered code two weeks early for the launch of GoPro Plus, a web application allowing users to access and share content. They used continuous integration and feature flags to test their features both in-house and in production, making improvements along the way. On launch day, they simply turned on 12 feature flags with confidence. The team utilized CircleCI and LaunchDarkly for this process, sharing planning strategies and best practices for their continuous integration pipeline.