Release Phases
A feature doesn’t go from “built” to “everyone” in one step. It moves through named release phases, each with a defined audience, flag state, and entry / exit criteria. Every feature ships behind a flag, so every phase is reversible: if something breaks, turn the flag off.
This is tracker-agnostic: the phase names are what matter, not the tool. Release phase is how widely it’s on. That’s a separate thing from the work’s stakes / path, which drive how much GTM investment, approval depth, and gate rigour the release gets.
The phases
Section titled “The phases”0. Behind the flag (internal)
Section titled “0. Behind the flag (internal)”- Audience: the dev team only (internal override).
- Flag: OFF.
- Purpose: build and test in a production environment without exposing anything. Wire up instrumentation here (events, dashboards, guardrail metrics) before anyone outside the team sees it.
- Exit: the outcome UAT passes (the user’s job is validated end-to-end, job × surface, independent of unit tests) and production-readiness is met to the stakes. See Agentic Delivery.
1. Private Preview
Section titled “1. Private Preview”- Audience: 5–10 trusted customer accounts (hand-picked, friendly).
- Flag: ON for those specific accounts.
- Purpose: real feedback from real users on the real path, with low blast radius. Fix critical bugs, watch production stability, and confirm the outcome holds outside the building.
- Exit: private-preview feedback summarised, critical tickets resolved, stability holding, then the Launch Readiness Check gate (below).
2. Public Preview
Section titled “2. Public Preview”- Audience: a percentage of customers, or opted-in / self-selected ones.
- Flag: ON for the preview cohort.
- Purpose: test at scale before committing to everyone: load, edge cases, adoption signal, support volume. This is where you learn whether it works for a broad base, not just the friendly accounts.
- Exit: adoption and stability thresholds met, no critical issues, GA sign-off.
3. General Availability (GA)
Section titled “3. General Availability (GA)”- Audience: all customers (often via a gradual % ramp).
- Flag: ON for all (still disable-able).
- Purpose: full rollout, announced. The feature is now the default.
- After GA: maintain the flag for a stabilisation window; run the post-launch reviews at 2 weeks / 30 days / 60–90 days and make the explicit call (accelerate / iterate / pivot / investigate / stop).
Audience + flag state, at a glance
Section titled “Audience + flag state, at a glance”| Phase | Flag state | Who can access | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behind the flag | OFF (internal override) | Dev team only | Build + test in production |
| Private Preview | ON for specific accounts | 5–10 trusted customers | Feedback from friendly users, low blast radius |
| Public Preview | ON for a % / opted-in | Preview cohort | Test at scale before GA |
| GA | ON for all (or gradual %) | All customers | Full rollout, still disable-able |
The gate between private and wider release
Section titled “The gate between private and wider release”Moving past Private Preview is a real checkpoint: the Launch Readiness Check. Don’t widen the audience until all of this is true:
- the feature is deployed behind a flag in production,
- the outcome UAT is complete (the user’s job is proven end-to-end), and production-readiness is validated (security / reliability / scale / availability, to the stakes): two distinct gates, neither implies the other,
- success metrics are instrumented and guardrail metrics identified,
- private-preview feedback is summarised and critical tickets resolved.
Gate depth scales with the stakes. Full gate detail: Delivery Standards → Gates.
Rollback
Section titled “Rollback”Every phase is behind a flag, so the rollback is always the same: turn the flag off. A phase transition must never leave data in a broken state. Prefer changes that are reversible within the phase.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Delivery Standards: the full lifecycle and gates these phases sit inside.
- RFC Template → Rollout: the per-initiative rollout table where a team records the audience, exit criteria, and rollback for each phase of this release.
- Post-Launch Review: the reviews that run after GA.
- Agentic Delivery: the outcome-UAT and production-readiness gates that guard the move past Private Preview.
- Product Analytics: the measurement discipline behind wiring up instrumentation before you widen the audience.
- Product Marketing: the messaging that must be current before GA.