Name: How We Progressively Deliver Changes To Kubernetes Using Canary Deployments and Feature Flags - Bob Walker, Octopus Deploy
Start: 2025-04-03T16:00:00+0100
End: 2025-04-03T16:30:00+0100

In-person
1-4 April 2025
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Thursday April 3, 2025 16:00 - 16:30 BST

Level 0 | ICC Capital Hall | Room 2

This is the case study of how we changed how we ship software.

With thousands of customers, each in their own Kubernetes container, deploying updates was tough. Off-hours schedules meant it took over 24 hours to push a new version. If something broke, we had to scramble. Canary deployments let us update small groups of customers at a time. We built a tool to stop rollouts fast when issues appeared, limiting the damage.

In the past, new features went to everyone at once. Rolling back wasn't an option. If something failed it'd leave customers stuck in the mess. Now, using OpenFeature, we hide new functionality behind feature flags. We release features to small groups, gather feedback, and test internally for weeks. If things go wrong, we flip the flag off and move on.

This two-pronged approach lets us avoid risky big-bang releases. We went from deploying every 10 days to every 4, with fewer than 1% high-severity defects. Most of these are resolved before customers notice them.

Speakers

Bob Walker

Field CTO, Octopus Deploy

Bob Walker is a Field CTO Octopus Deploy. Bob started as a developer in the early days of .NET when web forms were the hottest new thing, and manual deployments were the norm. After one too many five-hour 2 AM Saturday deployments, he searched for any automation to stop that pain... Read More →

Thursday April 3, 2025 16:00 - 16:30 BST
Level 0 | ICC Capital Hall | Room 2

Platform Engineering

Content Experience Level Intermediate

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025

Bob Walker

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