thirty-oneTOP TWELVE TIPS FOR RUNNINGA BETA TEST
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2004
Here are a few tips for running a beta test of a software product intended for large audiences—what I call "shrink-wrap." These apply for commercial or open source projects; I don't care whether you get paid in cash, eyeballs, or peer recognition, but I'm focused on products for lots of users, not internal IT projects.
- Open betas don't work. You either get too many testers (think Netscape), in which case you can't get good data from the testers, or you get too few reports from the existing testers.
- The best way to get a beta tester to send you feedback is to appeal to their psychological need to be consistent. You need to get them to say that they will send you feedback, ...
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