# No Permanent Overrides

DevFeed: [No Permanent Overrides](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/no-permanent-overrides-27347.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.mmckenna.me/no-permanent-overrides>)

Author: Matt McKenna

Published: 2026-03-24T13:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Matt McKenna](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/matt-mckenna.md>)

Topics: [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>), [incident](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/incident.md>), [maintenance](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/maintenance.md>), [audit](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/audit.md>)

Tags: [audit](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audit.md>), [automatic](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/automatic.md>), [best-practices](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/best-practices.md>), [feature](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/feature.md>), [feature-flags](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/feature-flags.md>), [guide](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/guide.md>), [incident](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident.md>), [maintenance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/maintenance.md>), [override](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/override.md>), [scheduled](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/scheduled.md>), [software-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-development.md>), [software-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-engineering.md>)

## AI overview

This guide explains how feature flag overrides applied during incident response can accidentally become permanent, causing drift between production and staging, fragmented user experiences, and maintenance debt. It recommends scheduling automatic expiration when applying an override so users re-enter the rollout path after the underlying fix is deployed.

## Source excerpt

I originally wrote this guide while working at Square to help my teams address a recurring problem: feature flag overrides applied during incident response were quietly becoming permanent, creating dr