# Crucial developer practices: Decoupling deployments and releases

DevFeed: [Crucial developer practices: Decoupling deployments and releases](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/crucial-developer-practices-decoupling-deployments-and-releases-39890.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://mende.io/blog/decoupling-deployments-and-releases/>)

Author: tobi@techunicorn.builders (Tobias Mende)

Published: 2021-11-27T12:02:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Tobias Mende](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/tobias-mende.md>)

Topics: [feature flags](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/feature-flags.md>), [Deployment](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/deployment.md>), [releases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/releases.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/systems.md>), [Risk](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/risk.md>), [Testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/testing.md>)

Tags: [continuous](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/continuous.md>), [continuous-deployment-software-development-software-craft](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/continuous-deployment-software-development-software-craft.md>), [decoupling](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/decoupling.md>), [deployments](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/deployments.md>), [developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer.md>), [feature-flags](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/feature-flags.md>), [practices](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/practices.md>), [risk](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/risk.md>), [test](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/test.md>), [testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/testing.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains why growing systems should decouple deployments from releases. It focuses on release toggles, a type of transient feature flag that lets developers change application behavior at runtime, gradually roll out changes, roll them back, and test in production without breaking the system.

## Source excerpt

Crucial developer practices: Decoupling deployments and releases When systems are small and the risk of introducing defects when changing its behaviour is low, these changes can happen during deployment. However, when systems grow, the behaviour becomes more complex and more people are working on the system, it is essential to decouple behaviour changes, the releases, from deployments.