A toggle is a switch that allows you to change between two states, options, or settings. In software development it’s used to allow developers and QA teams to test different aspects of an application while keeping other parts unchanged.
A common place to use a toggle is in multivariate or A/B testing. For example a company might add an experiment toggle to their production configurator with two different suggestion algorithms in order to see which one users prefer. Once they have enough data they remove the experiment toggle and go live with the better performing algorithm.
Another important consideration with toggles is that they should be designed to be clear about their state. This means that they should be highly visible and ideally have clear labels that describe what they do when activated or deactivated. It also helps to ensure that toggles are not hidden within other UI elements or content. Additionally, when using a toggle for functionality that affects all users it’s helpful to consider the societal and cultural implications of the color of the toggle as well.
Savvy teams view the Feature Toggles in their codebase as inventory that comes with a carrying cost so they are proactive about pruning them as soon as they’ve run their course. This is usually done by adding a toggle removal task to the team’s backlog or building it into their management platform. In the extreme cases, some teams even have a time bomb configured to fail a test or refuse to start an application if the number of unused toggles becomes too large.
