There’s a common belief that rollback is the ultimate safety net. That if something goes wrong, we’ll just roll back and everything will be fine.
Except, rolling back is often more dangerous than rolling forward.
For stateful applications, rollback can mean data inconsistencies, orphaned processes, and unexpected failures. It assumes that we can always rewind time cleanly, which is rarely the case. The better approach? Fail forward.
Progressive delivery techniques like feature flags, canary releases, and automated rollback halts allow teams to limit exposure, detect problems early, and stop bad deployments before they do real damage. If your team struggles to roll forward, what makes you think they have the skills to execute the far more complex task of rolling back?
Modern software delivery isn’t about reversing mistakes, it’s about designing deployments so failure is safe. How is your team handling failure today?
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Healthgrades
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
Qualco
Microsoft
Alignment Healthcare
SuperControl
CR2
Schlumberger
Teleplan
New Signature
Illumina
Trayport
Boeing
Big Data for Humans
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Epic Games
Lean SA
Deliotte
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Ghana Police Service
Washington Department of Transport
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Nottingham County Council
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Slaughter and May
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Akaditi
Ericson
Milliman
Workday