Meet Our Tester Leads

If you’ve participated in a private Betabound Exclusive, then you’ve interacted with one of our Tester Leads. Our Tester Leads sift through hundreds of pieces of feedback provided by testers during every beta test, including journal entries, feature requests, bug reports, discussion posts, and more. They’re responsible for ensuring every tester’s voice is heard, so it’s only appropriate you get a chance to hear some of their voices as well!

As a Tester Lead, I focus on keeping testers engaged throughout the tests they participate on, as well as have the opportunity to play with new technologies. The biggest piece of advice I could give to the testers would be to have fun with the product! Remember, you are among a select few that have the power to make a positive impact on a product. Secondly, the most common mistake I see testers make is putting their feedback in the incorrect location.

For example, many testers will write about a great feature request they would like to see in a journal entry, but not fill out a feature request form. Unfortunately, this creates more work for our testers because we have to ask them to then complete a formal feature request; essentially saying the same thing in two places. Overall, it’s really helpful when testers take the time to fully explore our platform so they’re comfortable knowing where to submit which pieces of feedback (like feature requests), and it saves testers time by not having to submit important pieces of feedback twice.

I love the variety that comes with working as a Tester Lead. I learn something about different technologies everyday, and I get to see what’s new and coming out. Working with beta tests at Centercode, you get to help test a different product every couple of weeks. It’s fun to help our clients receive the valuable tester feedback they need to improve their product before it launches. That being said, there’s always room for improvement.

The two biggest pieces of advice I could give to testers would be to use proper grammar and to read their emails. Something testers may not realize is that the Tester Lead assigned to their test is responsible for preparing all testers’ feedback to look good for our clients. Having to capitalize every lowercase “i” in a dozen different journal entries, discussion posts, and feature requests can take a long time! Also, reading emails is crucial toward ensuring you receive an incentive at the end of your participation in a beta test. We regularly email out deadlines for tester tasks (particularly toward the end of a test if a tester is missing something), so it’s the tester’s responsibility to make sure they aren’t missing out on a cool thank you gift by not regularly checking their email during one of our beta tests.

I coordinate, collect, and analyze data sent to me by testers within beta tests. What I love most about my role is feeling connected to the world! Being a part of the Centercode family lets me interact with different companies and testers that have a real, tangible effect on the world and the emerging technologies within it. For instance, we were beta testing a product where you would use Apple’s Siri on the iPhone to control the lights in your home. I received feedback from a tester that his nephew fell in love with the product and went back to his house shouting at his father’s phone to change the lights there — that’s how excited he was! It’s awesome to work for a company that has such an immediate impact on the technological world around us.

For testers, the biggest piece of advice I could give would be to use whatever product you’re testing as you would naturally use it at home (outside of specific task lists). Furthermore, the biggest mistake I see testers make is being non-complicit. In other words, being a good tester up to a certain point and then falling off and not finishing the test out. During a beta test, I’m excited to work with you and hear your thoughts, and tests are ten times more enjoyable when we all see them through together.

I’m the newest member of the Tester Lead team, so joining Centercode and interacting with our Betabound testers has been really great thus far. There are a lot of fun personalities here, so it’s a good environment to come into. Similar to what Omid said, not reading weekly tasks is a common mistake most testers make. When you don’t complete your tasks, we have to send compliance emails — which are never fun. We know you’re beta testing in your free time, so we don’t want to hound you to complete your tasks and make it feel like a job. However, it’s our responsibility to make sure you stick to your commitments as a tester, so making sure you’re on top of your test participation can really go a long way toward making a test great! On that note, the best piece of advice I have for testers is to read the predictive text in the smart search box within the Betabound platform. That way, you can quickly see if a feedback topic you’re about to post about has already been discussed so that you’re building on other testers’ conversations and ideas rather than adding extra noise.

As a Tester Lead, I’m responsible for communicating with and directing testers through various projects. Therefore, my job role is consistently exciting and challenging as we are continuously testing new products and working with new testers. At the same time, Centercode is one of the most relaxed work environments I’ve been a part of, and they truly understand that we’re all people who have interests and aspirations both inside and outside of work.

The most common mistake I see testers make is writing too colloquially. Type your feedback with the understanding that our client is going to review it. If you’re serious about being a great beta tester, then submit grammatically correct, thoughtful feedback. That way, our clients (like Fitbit, GoPro, Logitech, and more) receive the quality feedback they need to improve their product, and we’ll remember you as being a top-notch tester! As far as advice goes, I would like to strongly recommend to get a receipt when shipping hardware back to us! Sometimes return labels don’t get scanned or the package containing your hardware beta unit can get misplaced during transportation. In case there are any questions, a receipt proves you dropped the hardware off at a designated shipping location. This relinquishes your responsibility of the hardware unit, as well as confirm you fulfilled your duties as a beta tester.

Have you seen one of these Tester Leads on a Betabound test you’ve participated in? Feel free to give them a shoutout in the comments section below! Also, email us at hello@betabound.com if you have any questions about this blog post or suggestions for future topics you’d like to see covered on our blog.

Learn more about how our team processes your tester feedback!