Feature management fundamentally changes how you deliver software, and we are only beginning to understand the possibilities that unlocks. Release cadence, safety, deployment style, and recovery time are just some of the examples of our flag-first future.
In our new report, the State of Feature Management, you’ll learn how over 200 of our customers use LaunchDarkly and the impact the platform is having on their processes as they test innovations collaboratively, standardize safe releases, and accelerate app modernization. Included in the 34-page report, you’ll also see findings from our user community around our most popular integrations and SDKs, and which industries are using flags the most.
To get a fresh, wide-angle view of how feature management is being leveraged on a larger scale, we also surveyed 250 software professionals who rely on alternate flagging solutions. This gives you the ability to compare and contrast teams’ varying feature management motivations, trends, strategies, and results.
We believe the total output of all of this data— which was conducted in partnership with the independent firm, Wakefield Research—provides another barometer by which to gauge your own feature management usage and maybe will help spark some conversations in the process.
Here are some of the higher-level findings from the State of Feature Management, but you should definitely check out the full report for all the details.
When it comes to feature management solutions, the tool you’re using matters:
- 66% of non-LaunchDarkly users say they’re either somewhat or very stressed when releasing new software, compared to just 25% of our customers.
- Only 2% of LaunchDarkly customers are very stressed when releasing new features, compared to almost 20% of non-customers. (Ahem.)
Risk mitigation and deployment stability are the top reasons teams are using flags:
- For LaunchDarkly customers, the top three reasons to feature flag (in order) are risk mitigation, deployment stability, and entitlement or beta program management.
- Meanwhile, non-LaunchDarkly users say their biggest reasons for flagging are (in order) deployment stability, risk mitigation, and a tie between running A/B tests and measuring user acceptance.
Biggest overall benefits of feature management include reduced risk, improved team confidence:
- For our customers, some of the biggest benefits of feature management include reduced or mitigated deployment risks, improved confidence, more frequent deployments, and lower team stress.
- Those not using LaunchDarkly say the biggest upsides to feature management include increased reliability of applications, improved developer productivity, and improved confidence.
LaunchDarkly customers are deploying more frequently:
- 70% of LaunchDarkly customers say they’re releasing several times a week if not daily, compared to 55% of non-customers. Generally, the overwhelming majority of both groups are releasing multiple times throughout a given month at the very least.
The greater tech industry is overflowing with downloadable PDFs with titles that begin with “State of.” We thought there was a strong argument for adding another set of data to the “State of” party, and hopefully you do too.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the compilation of this report. We look forward to learning about how your use of feature management changes throughout the coming year.
To dive into all the report’s findings—including how often flags are being used on projects, impacts of not having a solid feature management platform, and biggest reasons for rollbacks—grab your copy now.
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