August 2023 Summaries

LaunchDarkly has introduced "contexts" as a new feature that enhances targeting capabilities by providing more granular control over application experiences. Contexts replace the existing user-based targeting, allowing teams to define audiences based on various factors such as location and device type. This enables developers to create targeted experiences for their users, improving engagement and satisfaction. The use of multi-contexts allows for even greater flexibility in defining audience segments, making it easier to manage migrations or roll out new features to specific targets. Additionally, contexts can be used to support freemium models and other similar programs, providing a more efficient way to deliver customized experiences without the need for separate applications.

A/B testing has a long history, with successful companies like Booking.com and Microsoft leveraging experimentation to build their brands and grow revenue. The mainstream adoption of A/B testing can be linked to the advent of WYSIWYG-driven, browser-based tools that allowed marketing teams across various industries to conduct rapid iteration. However, temptation arises when companies use these testing tools as solutions for every problem. This article discusses the limitations and risks associated with using visual editor tools for experimentation, such as circumventing safe development practices, page flicker issues, longer lead times to release, and limited personalization capabilities. It emphasizes that while visual editors have played a significant role in popularizing web-based experimentation, they hold a limited space in the field of experimentation as a broader practice.

LaunchDarkly has become an official Snowflake Marketplace partner with its first listing in early-access for customers. The partnership allows both companies to collaborate and help teams measure the impact of their software releases. Key takeaways from the recent Snowflake Summit include AI/ML advancements, partner initiatives focused on co-innovation, and native apps that allow partners to develop applications running natively within a customer's Snowflake data warehouse. LaunchDarkly is currently offering an Early Access Program for mutual customers looking to get more value out of their use of both platforms.

Government agencies often face challenges in providing high-quality digital services to citizens and employees. Feature flags can help overcome these obstacles by allowing teams fine-grain control over features throughout the feature lifecycle, improving service reliability and enhancing user experience. The Biden Administration's recent executive order on Citizen Experience (CX) makes the development of optimal CX a requirement for government agencies. By using feature flags, agencies can deploy updates and new features more flexibly and efficiently, ensuring that the code they roll out delivers the best impacts to users. Feature flag management platforms like LaunchDarkly have been used by Recreation.gov and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve their CX efforts, resulting in increased conversion rates, faster loading times, and reduced development time.

The blog post discusses how Favor Delivery, a Texas-based on-demand delivery platform, adopted LaunchDarkly to drive continuous delivery and customer value. Both Ivan Valle, Staff Software Engineer at Favor Delivery, and Daniel Kaparunakis, Senior Android Developer at Favor Delivery, shared their journey of adopting LaunchDarkly during a Galaxy session in Austin. They were hosted by Jonathan Nolen, SVP of Engineering and Product at LaunchDarkly. Favor discovered LaunchDarkly when they decided to move away from their home-built A/B testing service due to its limitations. The adoption of LaunchDarkly has brought several benefits for Favor including a UI, faster continuous delivery, and the ability to conduct extensive A/B testing. They also use feature flags to shift traffic in real time between contact centers without requiring engineering input or creating any impact on customers. Favor's adoption of LaunchDarkly has indirectly benefited their customers by allowing them to move faster and mitigate risks more effectively. The company advises others just starting with LaunchDarkly to have a process, start with smaller features, and expand use from one team to many gradually. They also highlight the surprising results of testing LaunchDarkly's scaling capabilities with 200 million requests in two weeks.

LaunchDarkly's integration with Zapier allows users to connect disparate services and perform automated tasks whenever an event occurs, making it a powerful tool for software development teams. With over 5,000 apps available on Zapier, almost any software your company uses can be integrated with LaunchDarkly. This enables seamless integration of feature flags within various applications without requiring any modification to the code. Examples include automatically triggering marketing campaigns upon launching a new feature, enabling toast messages for newly posted items in a portfolio, and updating flag targeting based on form submissions. The possibilities are virtually limitless with Zapier's extensive list of integrations.