Last week we launched our What You Need to Know Series. Each chapter of the series will cover a different type of beta test, and its challenges, goals, and benefits. Our ultimate goal is to combine these chapters into a book that our readers can use to run almost any kind of beta.

The first chapter of the series provides an introduction to beta management. What You Need to Know About Beta Management covers the basic terms, considerations, and steps that are the same in every beta test, no matter what your product or market is. This guide is ideal for quality, marketing, project, and product managers who’ve been tasked with running their first beta test. It’s also helpful for beta managers who want to review best practices that may improve their beta programs.

Some of the questions this guide answers:

• Why do companies run beta tests?
• How do I plan a beta?
• What challenges will I run into?
• How to I recruit great testers?
• How do I make the most of my testers and time?
• What do I do with all this data?
• and other questions you didn’t even know you had!

This guide acts as a starting place for your beta journey. It will also give you an idea of where our other free resources fit in the beta process. The link below will give you access to the beta management chapter, as well as the rest of the What You Need to Know series as it comes out.

Image courtesy of Flickr user xjrlokix.