The flag goes on a small slice first.
Shipping a change should not take a meeting. The flag goes on a small slice first. One metric says whether it stays or comes back. Once the change is in for everyone, the flag is removed.
The deploy and the release are two different moments. The deploy puts both paths on the server. The release is a person turning the flag on. You can deploy and still have nothing new in front of a customer.
Dark
The new path ships with the flag off. Customers still get the old one. If the deploy itself is bad, you are in an ordinary rollback, and the flag never had to save you.
A few people
Three people, one screen. The change is on for a few of them.
A few means a list you could read out loud, not a percent you rounded down. They use the real screen. The person who owns the flag is on that list. Support knows the names, so a complaint from them is not a mystery.
The number
If it stays quiet, the change goes wider. Half of orders was wide enough for receipt copy, and the tickets stayed flat, so that one stayed out. If the number moves the wrong way, the switch comes off. Late orders rose on the delivery window, so that one came back. You do not renegotiate the number after you have seen a chart you dislike.
Off, without a deploy
The owner turns it off. The next person who loads the screen gets the old path. The code stays deployed. Coming back off is a finished rollout. It is what the switch is for.
Then delete it
When you would not go back, take the flag and the old path out of the code. The name comes off the list so the next change gets a clean switch. A flag that stays is just another setting nobody owns.