Similar to attending regular checkups to prevent an ER visit, successful partnerships between testing and UX teams is preventative medicine for building great software products. Beyond getting out of the building and talking to users, some of the most valuable insights you can gather come from beta testing: putting a prototype in a user's hand and learning more about how they use it over time.
In this talk, we'll cover the basics for running your first beta testing program as well as two detailed case studies (launching the FiscalNote iOS app and the beta version of the Real Talk app):
- How to sell a manager or client on the idea of beta testing, defining the difference between automated testing and beta testing, and explaining how a combination of the two can lead to better products
- The various decisions for how to integrate testing into the product development lifecycle & effectively partner with stakeholders
- Best practices for working effectively with client success/account management (for B2B) or user support (for B2C)
- How the FiscalNote Product and QA teams partner to use feedback from beta testing with end users to guide crafting automated regression testing plans that are grounded in customer data and insights
