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Coding for Risk / Reducing Code Branches
The goal of most development teams is to prevent risks by implementing complex coding cycles and branch strategies. However, these processes often address the symptoms rather than the root cause. The real solution lies in proper design before development begins.
If features are designed before developers begin writing code, patterns and techniques can be used to address risks of bad code impacting a release.
Here is a logical progression demonstrating how incremental development with proper safeguards eliminates production risk:
- Adding unreferenced database tables poses no production risk
- Adding stored procedures that nothing calls poses no risk
- Adding APIs with no callers poses no risk
- Adding hidden UI elements poses no risk
- Using feature flags defaulted to “off” poses no risk
Most of what developers fear is actually unfounded. Teams can simplify processes, develop faster, and deliver sooner while reducing risk — through thoughtful architectural decisions and bottom-up feature development.