"Build": The First Pillar of Feature Management

Feature management is a new class of software development tools and practices that help teams ship code faster and reduce risks in releases. It involves using feature flags to manage features throughout the development process. LaunchDarkly has identified four key pillars of feature management: Build, Operate, Learn, and Empower. These pillars align with the core tenets of Progressive Delivery, a new software development life cycle methodology that enables teams to deliver and control software effectively. Feature flags allow developers to decouple deployments from releases, enabling engineers to ship features as soon as they're done while business stakeholders can release those features at their own pace. This approach improves productivity, deployment velocity, system stability, product quality, and customer satisfaction.