Ebook
100 Tips for Better Beta Tests
This free ebook is a compilation of Beta Testing best practices from our own experience, plus contributions from great companies like Adobe, Autodesk, Avid, TiVo, Symantec, and UPS.
PDF · 31 pages · April 22, 2017
There are few standards or guides for managing a beta test, so you will probably learn by trial and error. This ebook is for anyone running one, whether it is your first test or your fiftieth.
Its 100 tips are short and practical, and they follow a test from the first plan to the final reward for testers. The ebook uses "beta" as a catch-all, so the advice also fits UAT, customer acceptance testing, and field trials, and a short list of basic terms up front explains the words it uses.
What’s inside
Planning your beta test
Twelve tips on project plans, realistic goals, balancing tester numbers, duration and goals, getting buy-in, and planning for change.
Recruiting and selecting testers
Tips on building a pool of candidates, writing application surveys, spotting careful and passionate testers, and keeping alternates ready.
Keeping testers engaged and informed
Tips on kickoff, tester activities, communication, and maintaining participation, from setting expectations to nudging idle testers.
Feedback, closing, and rewards
Tips on responding to feedback, judging bug severity, sharing results with other teams, closing the beta, and rewarding your testers.
