Colin.js
Implementing progressive delivery techniques in your JavaScript CI/CD workflow

As software development practices evolve, it’s important to adopt strategies that allow for more streamlined and efficient delivery of software. One such technique that has gained popularity is progressive delivery, which focuses on gradually rolling out new features and changes to minimize risks and ensure a better user experience.

In this blog post, we will explore how you can implement progressive delivery techniques in your JavaScript CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) workflow.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Setting up a CI/CD pipeline
  3. Feature flagging
  4. A/B testing
  5. Canary releases
  6. Monitoring and rollbacks
  7. Conclusion

Introduction

Progressive delivery aims to reduce the impact of failures and make the deployment process more controllable. It allows you to release new features or changes to a small group of users first, gather feedback, and gradually roll out to a larger audience.

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline

Before implementing progressive delivery techniques, it’s important to have a robust CI/CD pipeline in place for your JavaScript application. This pipeline should automate the process of building, testing, and deploying your application.

Tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, or GitHub Actions can help you set up a CI/CD pipeline tailored to your needs. Make sure your pipeline includes steps for running tests, generating artifacts, and deploying to different environments.

Feature flagging

Feature flagging is a technique that allows you to control the visibility of specific features or changes in your application. By using feature flags, you can selectively enable or disable features for different users or groups. This enables you to roll out new features gradually and assess their impact before making them available to everyone.

There are several feature flagging tools available, such as LaunchDarkly, Flagsmith, and Unleash. These tools provide APIs and SDKs that make it easy to implement feature flags in your JavaScript application.

A/B testing

A/B testing is another important technique for progressive delivery. It involves comparing two versions of a feature to understand how they perform and which one provides a better user experience. By dividing your user base into different groups, you can release different versions of a feature and measure metrics like conversion rates, user engagement, or performance.

Tools like Google Optimize, Optimizely, and VWO make it easy to conduct A/B tests in your JavaScript application. These tools provide a visual editor to define experiments, track metrics, and analyze results.

Canary releases

Canary releases involve deploying new features or changes to a limited set of users or a specific environment. This allows you to monitor the behavior of the application in a real-world environment before making the changes available to a wider audience. Canary releases help identify potential issues or performance bottlenecks early on.

Using feature flags, you can set up canary releases in your JavaScript application by selectively enabling the new features for a small group of users. This allows you to collect feedback and assess the impact before rolling out to a larger audience.

Monitoring and rollbacks

Monitoring is a crucial aspect of progressive delivery. By monitoring key metrics, such as response times, error rates, or user interactions, you can quickly identify any issues introduced by new features or changes. A robust monitoring system, combined with good alerting practices, enables you to take timely action to address any problems.

In case of any critical issues or unexpected behavior, it’s important to have a rollback strategy in place. By leveraging feature flags or deploying through a version control system, you can easily roll back any problematic changes to a previous stable version.

Conclusion

Implementing progressive delivery techniques in your JavaScript CI/CD workflow allows you to minimize risks, gather feedback, and provide a better user experience. By gradually rolling out new features and changes, using feature flagging, A/B testing, canary releases, and robust monitoring, you can ensure that your software delivery process is more controllable and efficient.

Remember, it’s always important to choose the right tools and strategies that best fit your needs and align with your team’s goals.

#references

© 2018 Colin. All rights reserved.