Testing in Production to Stay Safe and Sensible

"Testing in production" refers to running code on production servers using real data from real users without showing the new behavior to most users. This practice is often used during the final stages before releasing software to a broad audience and is not a substitute for quality assurance or unit testing but an extension of testing into the most realistic environment possible - the real world. Testing in production can be implemented in two ways: to prove or disprove a stated hypothesis, or to ensure that changes do not cause negative effects on customers or the environment. While it is not a replacement for other types of testing and does not eliminate the need for a QA team, testing in production provides accurate data by testing against real users and their unique behaviors. Feature flags are crucial in safely testing in production as they allow developers to make smaller changes, easily reverse course, and progressively deliver new features based on region or user group. LaunchDarkly's feature management platform enables teams to test software changes in a production environment at high frequency and scale while reducing the risk of testing in production.