Alpha & Beta Test
Alpha Test
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Beta Test
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What they do
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Improve the quality of the product
and ensure beta readiness.
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Improve the quality of the
prouduct, integrate customer input on the complete product, and ensure
release readiness.
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When they happen
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Toward the end of a development
process when the product is in a near fully-usable state.
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Just prior to launch, sometimes
ending within weeks or even days of final release.
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How long they last
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Usually very long and see many
iterations. It’s not uncommon for alpha to last 3-5x the length of beta.
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Usually only a few weeks
(sometimes up to a couple of months) with few major iterations.
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Who cares about it
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Almost exclusively
quality/engineering (bugs, bugs, bugs).
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Usually involves product
marketing, support, docs, quality and engineering (basically the entire
product team).
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Who participates (tests)
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Normally performed by test
engineers, employees, and sometimes “friends and family”. Focuses on testing
that would emulate ~80% of the customers.
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Tested in the “real world” with
“real customers” and the feedback can cover every element of the product.
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What testers should expect
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Plenty of bugs, crashes, missing
docs and features.
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Some bugs, fewer crashes, most
docs, feature complete.
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How they’re addressed
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Most known critical issues are
fixed, some features may change or be added as a result of early feedback.
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Much of the feedback collected is
considered for and/or implemented in future versions of the product. Only
important/critical changes are made.
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What they achieve
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About methodology, efficiency and
regiment. A good alpha test sets well-defined benchmarks and measures a
product against those benchmarks.
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About chaos, reality, and
imagination. Beta tests explore the limits of a product by allowing customers
to explore every element of the product in their native environments.
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When it’s over
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You have a decent idea of how a
product performs and whether it meets the design criteria (and if it’s
“beta-ready”)
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You have a good idea of what your
customer thinks about the product and what s/he is likely to experience when
they purchase it.
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What happens next
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Beta Test!
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Release Party!
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