We Got Served

So, you got into the beta programme, right? Excited? Great! Now let’s take a look at some hints and tips for getting stuck in, and finding those bugs!

1. Install the Software/Hardware As Soon As Possible.

Beta Programmes are a race against time – the product team are fixed on a release date (that they’ll never tell you) and you have a few thousand people and a small chunk of time to find and fix whatever bugs are still there. If you want some bug success, there’ll be a lot of low hanging fruit to pick off – get everything installed and start using the product. Check out any problems with installation, and report any problems asap.

2. Anything That Doesn’t Work As You Expected Is a Bug

This is a really important point – let’s say you’re using a product, and click Button X in full expectation that Action Y will happen. But instead, Action Z happens. This can be classed as a bug. Even though Action Z happened without a crash, fault or any other problem, you were still expecting Action Y, so bug it.

3. Use The Product In Your Everyday Life

I’m always amazed when people say, “Yeah, I loaded Beta 1, but couldn’t find any bugs”. There are bugs all over these products, particularly at the Beta 1 and Beta 2 stages. The easiest way of finding bugs is to install the product, and just use it in the way it was intended. Look for “fit and finish” issues such as spelling errors, graphical glitches, poor grammar as well as buttons not working,help files missing – they’re all bugs and they all should be reported. Keep using the product, and your computer on a day to day basis, and sure enough, those bugs will raise their heads at some point – then squish em!

4. Try to Break It

Here’s where we change from merely finding bugs, to going out hunting for bugs. Here let’s use an exercise called “Revolution” – the premise of Revolution is that you use the product in exactly the opposite way to how you normally would. The sky is green and grass is blue. So where you’re asked to type in a word into a dialog, type in a load of numbers. Or don’t type anything in at all. If you’re asked to keep a password between 6-10 characters, type in 2. Or 50. Or nothing. This type of activity is great fun, and you’d be surprised just how easy it can be to fish for bugs in this way.

5. Re-Test Your Bugs in New Builds

There’s these things called “Regression Bugs” – basically, you submit a bug. It gets fixed. They fix something else, which then breaks the fix that soved your bug. So your bug pops up again in a later build. It’s often worth re-testing a random selection of your old bugs in newer builds if you have the time – regression bugs can be reasonably common.

So, there’s a few techniques for you to try out on your next beta.