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Status and Lifecycle Management in DevCycle

In DevCycle, Features have Statuses which indicate their current position in the Development LifeCycle. The statuses are a succinct way to understand a Feature's state, and each status has its own unique properties.

Statuses​

Features in DevCycle can exist in one of three Statuses to indicate their current LifeCycle stage:

  • In Progress
  • Completed
  • Coming Soon: Archived

Each status comes with its unique properties, affecting how a Feature behaves, can be interacted with, or is displayed in the dashboard.

Status changes are not automatic and are maintained by the User.

The following is a description of each status:

In Progress​

When a Feature is created, it starts in this status. While a Feature is "In Progress," you can modify everything, have as many Variations as you'd like, and have complex targeting rules.

Completed​

One could consider a Feature "Complete" once it has been tested, approved, and is ready for release or has been fully released. When the User changes the status to "Complete", the Feature enters a semi-readonly state the Feature enters a semi-readonly state, limiting some editability such as restricting the addition of new Targeting Rules and Variations. Additionally, all Users will be served a single Variation.

Archived​

The "Archived" status is designed to clean up the dashboard and the codebase by essentially putting the Feature into a read-only mode and hiding it from the standard dashboard views. It can still be reverted from the "Archived" status to In Progress, allowing for future use.

LifeCycle and Changing Status​

Completing a Feature​

When a Feature is marked as "Completed," the following changes are implemented:

  • Status changes to "Complete."
  • A "Release Variation" must be chosen which will be served to all Users for every Environment.
  • Targeting rules for all Environments will be replaced with an "All users" rule serving the selected "Release Variation"
  • Previously set Environment statuses are preserved.
  • Additional targeting rules cannot be added when a Feature is "Complete" and must be reverted to In Progress to do so.
  • The Variables section will display only one single Variation; you may not add more Variations.
  • Variable values can still be modified, and Environments can be toggled on and off.

Cleanup Checklist for Variables​

Upon completing a Feature, you will see cleanup checklists for each Variable. You can choose to keep or cleanup a Variable.

  • Keep: Marks the Variable as permanent, which will make sure DevCycle does not guide you toward archiving or removing the Variable from your code, and the Variable will always serve the chosen value.

  • Mark for Cleanup: Provides a checklist to help you know when it's safe to remove the Variable from the Feature or archive the Variable. If the Variable is still seen in code, or if evaluations are still seen in production, removing this Variable from the Feature could result in the Variable serving default values to Users. If Code References are enabled, this will also help inform where to remove this Variable from your code.

Reverting to In Progress​

The "Completed" status is reversible by clicking "Revert to In Progress."

  • Previous Variations return, but any new changes to Variables made while in the "Complete" status remain.
  • Past targeting rules will not be restored.