Safe Testing in Production with Harness Feature Flags

Testing in production is a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, you want to ensure your changes are safe and won't break anything. On the other hand, you don't want to slow down your development process by going through a lengthy testing phase before every release.

At Harness, testing in the production environment is part of our development process. Just last month, developers from our Cloud Cost Management team used Feature Flags to test the release of their new Cloud Asset Governance feature. By using a flag to enable the beta AWS support to a subset of users, they could test the feature’s performance before rolling it out globally to all customers by GA.

Why Test in Production?

Testing in production can be a scary thought for some, but it can actually be a very beneficial practice. Here are a few reasons why:

• To catch bugs that are difficult to find in staging or development environments. Production environments are the most complex and realistic environments in which to test your software. This means that you are more likely to catch bugs that would have been missed in staging or development environments during unit and integration testing.
• To test your software under real-world conditions. Production environments are where your software will be used by real users with real data. This means you can test your software under real-world conditions and ensure it is performing as expected.
• To get feedback from real users early and often. By testing in production, you can get feedback from real users early and often. This feedback can help you improve your software and ensure that it meets your users' needs.

When to Test in Production

Testing in production is not always appropriate. Here are a few times when you should consider testing in production:

• When you are launching a new feature or making a significant change to an existing feature.
• When you are testing a feature that is difficult to test in staging or development environments.
• When you need to get feedback from real users early and often.

Using Harness Feature Flags

Harness feature flags can help you achieve this balance by allowing you to safely test new features in production without impacting your existing users. With Harness feature flags, you can:

• Target specific users or groups of users with new features. This allows you to test your changes with a subset of your users before rolling them out to everyone.
• Gradually roll out new features to your users. This allows you to monitor the performance of your new features and make changes as needed before they are exposed to all of your users.
• Quickly and easily revert to a previous version of a feature. If you encounter any problems with a new feature, you can simply disable it with a feature flag and roll back to the previous version.

Here are some examples of how Harness feature flags can be used to safely test new features in production:

• A new e-commerce website is launching a new product recommendation algorithm. The team wants to test the new algorithm with a small group of users before rolling it out to everyone. They use a Harness feature flag to target a subset of users with the new algorithm. The team then monitors the performance of the new algorithm and makes changes as needed before rolling it out to everyone.
• A mobile banking app is launching a new feature that allows users to deposit checks using their phone's camera. The team wants to test the new feature with a small group of users before rolling it out to everyone. They use a Harness feature flag to target a subset of users with the new feature. The team then monitors the performance of the new feature and makes changes as needed before rolling it out to everyone.
• A social media platform is launching a new feature that allows users to create and share groups. The team wants to test the new feature with a small group of users before rolling it out to everyone. They use a Harness feature flag to target a subset of users with the new feature. The team then monitors the performance of the new feature and makes changes as needed before rolling it out to everyone.

Harness feature flags are a powerful tool that can help you safely test new features in production. By using Harness feature flags, you can ensure that your changes are safe and won't impact your existing users while avoiding the need for a lengthy testing phase before every release.

Here are some additional benefits of using Harness feature flags to test in production:

• Reduced risk: By testing new features with a subset of users before rolling them out to everyone, you can reduce the risk of impacting your existing users.
• Increased speed: By eliminating the need for a lengthy testing phase before every release, you can increase the speed of your development process.
• Improved quality: By monitoring the performance of your new features in production, you can identify and fix any problems before they impact all of your users.

Overall, Harness feature flags are a valuable tool for any organization that wants to test new features in production safely. By using Harness feature flags, you can reduce risk, increase speed, and improve quality. If you want to start testing in production, get started for free now!