How to Enable Server Side Experimentation

Server side experimentation is crucial in agile environments as it allows developers to conduct tests on web servers without impacting users' experience. This type of testing can include A/B testing, multivariate testing, or multi-armed bandit testing. It broadens the testing options and enables deep experimentation with minimal impact on software performance. Server side experimentation is important because it allows organizations to run more sophisticated experiments, including those focused on backend infrastructure. This method also lets teams access and test their backend algorithms, infrastructure, third-party integrations, and databases, providing more data and capabilities for constant product improvement. Feature flags are a key component of server side experimentation as they allow developers to selectively turn features on or off during runtime without needing to push new code or create a new deployment. This enables rapid feature experimentation in a controlled manner. Agile testing practices can be applied with feature flags, allowing teams to work on and release products in short planned sprints. By breaking down releases into smaller pieces and measuring feedback from controlled releases, the server side experimentation cycle can be made more efficient.