Spring, 2000

Gaining market share for your software product requires an approach that overrides the two rules of software - customers always want more and there are always problems. You can control these commonplace corollaries by developing collaborative clusters in the phase between alpha and product release. Both inside and outside your company, collaborative clusters can be established to make certain that your product performs as described and each new function is useable.

Collaborative Cluster - within your company:

Getting a product to market is big enough and compelling enough for people to be able to subordinate their egos, as well as do something they feel they cannot achieve on their own.

Here are several guidelines to consider when leading the beta process cycle.

Designate beta team leaders and what they will be responsible for in light of their talents and gifts. Write their names in a time structured beta process cycle Project Charter. Put this and the Action Item Registry on the company Intranet.

R + D, Product Test, Customer Support, Training, Documentation and the Project Manager daily meet to go over accomplishments and discuss real-time beta tester problems. List what each member of the group has agreed to do and by when in the Action Item Registry.

This daily group who fix the bugs, reports weekly to the big group. The big group includes Marketing, Investor Relations and Sales. Post minutes from the weekly meeting on your company Intranet.

Collaborative Cluster - beta site testers

Although the unit test performed by R + D verifies that particular new features work and QA performs integration and regression testing to ensure interoperability in a lab, beta sites are required to peruse the documentation and test the functionality of new features.

Here are three tips to help you set up your 3rd party collaborative cluster.

First: Choose your beta sites based on their willingness to place the product in production - not in a test lab.

Second: Provide the testers with a beta test matrix and encourage them commit to a series of tests to a time frame.

Third: If the product is new, offer a Product Forum provided that the Chief Engineer, Marketing and several R + D representatives attend.

To achieve success, your staff will manage the beta process in an integrated form. This task requires a considerable amount of communication.

Collaborative clusters creates unique teamwork

Software development is a uniquely hurried process. Collaborative clusters create both innovative corporate teamwork and 3rd parties audit so that users can use your product. The pipeline from the product to the marketplace is the influential End User (iEU), who voices marketing's objectives to the technical press and investment community. Give your early adopters the voice to describe the niche in which they use your product.

Executives who see the wider interconnections behind a successful launch would agree with good reason that developing collaborative clusters fulfills product release objectives, provides real time documentation concerning feature upgrades, satisfies the analysts and ultimately sells more products.

ßetaWatch Inc. manages the overabundance of information by leading groups of problem solvers both within your company and amongst your cheerleaders - the beta testers - in your the global marketplace. ßetawatch's intellectual capital includes the ßeta Process Cycle™ (BPC). The BPC provides the post alpha pre product launch infrastructure standard. This is customized into the Project Charter. Our Software Audit Template™ is a seven-page questionnaire that examines potential exposures, global product placement and potential channel.

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