The DevCycle Story: Moving Beyond A/B Testing to Smarter Deployments

In this episode of The Leadership Exchange, Rob Ocel talks with Andrew Norris, co-founder and CEO of DevCycle, to explore the challenges of adapting software to mee shifting market expectations. They discuss why feature flagging became a more compelling opportunity than standalone A/B testing, and how the team navigated a complete product transformation Andrew shares insights on making data-driven business decisions, the risks and rewards of rebuilding from the ground up, and how DevCycle is redefining software release strategies for modern development teams.Key Points from This Episode- The Shift from A/B Testing to Feature Flagging – DevCycle recognized that feature flagging was becoming a more essential tool for engineering teams, allowing for safer, more iterative software releases compared to standalone A/B testing.- Data-Driven Decision to Pivot – By analyzing usage trends, the team saw that engineers, not marketers, were the primary users of their product. This insight led to a strategic shift toward developer-first feature management.- Building DevCycle from the Ground Up – Instead of modifying their existing platform, the team took a bold approach—building an entirely new system optimized for scalability, speed, and developer workflows.- The Future of Software Deployment – Feature flagging enables continuous delivery, reduces risk, and allows teams to experiment efficiently. DevCycle’s pivot positions it as a leader in modern software release strategies.Chapters: 0:00 Introduction and the importance of software deployment 0:53 Introducing Andrew Norris and the DevCycle journey 1:29 The origins of DevCycle and transitioning from Taplytics 3:09 Early mobile development and the shift beyond A/B testing 6:16 Challenges in scaling experimentation across platforms 7:34 Recognizing market shifts and changing user needs 10:31 The transition from A/B testing to feature flagging 12:10 Weighing options: improving, rebranding, or rebuilding 16:05 Going all-in on a new platform and DevCycle’s sprint 17:14 Managing team motivation during a major pivot 20:00 Experimenting with dual product lines before full migration 22:42 Early signs that DevCycle was the right move 26:05 Lessons on risk-taking and identifying high-value opportunities 29:21 Merging feature flagging and A/B testing into a single workflow 30:53 The success of DevCycle and its future direction 31:59 Where to learn more about DevCycle and connect with Andrew 32:19 Closing thoughts and sponsor messageFollow Andrew Norris on Social MediaTwitter:https://x.com/AndrewNorrisLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsnorris/🔗 Learn more about DevCycle:devcycle.comSponsored by This Dot:thisdot.co