• September 17, 2007

My New Respect for the Vital Beta Process

The first Beta version of eXpresso finally put a tangible face on the concepts and ideas we all had argued about during hundreds of meeting hours. To a person, we were giddy with excitement at seeing our creation come to life. But reality soon extinguished our intense, yet shallow, infatuation; we knew it was time to give – and get – tough love.

Introducing the Beta version of a product is like asking, “Do I look fat in this outfit?” and hoping (really!) for an honest answer. You roll out something you know is imperfect and hope your Beta community will look past your cosmetic warts long enough to assess your inner beauty.

Once I overcame the combination of emotions that included vanity, pride, impatience, and fear, I could appreciate the Beta process for its vital dual purpose: help me with the development roadmap and begin filling out the marketing blueprint. Feedback from these typical users was invaluable: likes, dislikes, easy to use, never use. “If you add this feature, I would use it everyday. You call that navigation? That color annoys me…”Assessing this information told us what else to build and how best to promote it.

We had a great Beta group who unselfishly offered their time and opinions. They suffered through an interface that now seems primitive, and we inadvertently produced glitches that locked up their machines. We’re lucky to have had a cooperative Friends & Family Beta group and every user and every comment was appreciated. We also learned a lot from our “B” Beta group that included our own internal team. We formed our own opinions by signing on as if we were detached users trying to share a spreadsheet. Responses from potential investors and demo viewers were also considered. The trick is to separate the off-hand irrelevant comment from the genuine concern of a potential user.

I guess we’ll really never be out of Beta mode. Three, five, ten years from now we’ll introduce Version 10.X. It will include a feature someone thought important that wasn’t included in Version 10.X-1. That’s the process we all go through now: (1) perfect, (2) re-introduce, (3) get feedback, (1) perfect, (2) re-introduce, (3) get feedback …

I’ve learned to not blindly celebrate, panic, or take offense over every comment about eXpresso. I consider the source, I consider the motivation, and I try to match it all up with my gut feeling. I’d like to tell you for sure which half of Beta comments to trust, believe, and act on. But I’m still waiting for someone to give me that definitive answer. So far, I have had to rely on my instincts. You’ll probably have to also.

• By George