Nothing can be better for your software than to have a new release go through a beta program where customers (even prospects) put the software through its paces in a real-world environment. When the release is announced, not only are you confident that most major problems have been identified and rectified, but you have case studies for your marketing collateral, endorsements for your press releases, and best of all, positive references ready for interviews with the media.

However, while those who make quality their career may clearly understand what beta software means in terms of number and type of bugs and other issues, this is a murky area in the minds of your beta users and the executives they report to. It is critical that you set expectations with your beta program participants if you want the experience to leave a good impression. This lays the foundation for acceptance in the marketplace, and can mean the difference between good reviews in the trade journals and getting trashed for problems that were never serious in the first place.

In my experience with beta software, I have seen a common pattern of problems, and responses to those problems, that has led me to set expectations in a very specific way with beta customers in order to leave a lasting impression of good quality software. This approach is described below.