The Delta Huddle Podcast Centercode

About This Episode

When it comes to writing the book on beta testing, there are few people more qualified than Mike Fine. Literally. He actually has a book on beta testing. As Senior Test Manager and co-founder here at Centercode, Mike has been in the industry for over 30 years, testing thousands of products ranging from network equipment and wellness apps to audio equipment and financial services.

Mike is a fountain of knowledge, and during our conversation we covered his time at Centercode, how the platform has evolved, his top tips for recruiting testers, and what you can do to get the maximum out of your project. Mike's enthusiasm and passion for testing really shows in this episode, and we were delighted to have him on the podcast.

I hope you enjoy our conversation.



About Our Guest

Mike Fine is an expert in quality testing, having been involved in test programs for over 30 years. Throughout his career, he's conducted and managed more than 1000 projects, written three books—including Beta Testing for Better Software—and cultivated expertise in product development, quality, testing, customer validation, service, and customer experience.



He also helped found Centercode, where he's contributed to improving and refining the software and services. In his current role at the company, he supervises the management of dozens of tests a year. He's passionate about the value of customer validation and customer input into product design.



Timestamps

(0:00) - Intro

(1:15) - Mike’s start in beta testing

(5:11) - Running the gamut and how Centercode works with a multitude of product types

(8:10) - What drew Mike to beta testing?

(11:30) - What makes a great tester, and how to get testers energized

(16:34) - Strategies for finding high quality testers, and determining how many testers you need

(24:00) - Mike’s advice for teams struggling with tester recruitment

(30:15) - Understanding the product is key for running a successful test

(33:33) - How to overcome resilience to change and other concerns with beta tests

(39:42) - The biggest hurdles to overcome when starting a new beta test

(43:55) - What can make or break a beta test?

(47:54) - Reflecting on 30 years of testing and constantly learning from new projects

(53:21) - How has Centercode evolved over the years?



Zero-Cost Resources and Guides

Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit



Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit



Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes



Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit



The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual



The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map



Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit



Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit



The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta

About This Episode
In the world of fintech, Square is a global leader. Their point of sale technology and services have enabled businesses across the world to succeed. And a global leader in fintech requires a global beta team, ready to test out new innovations and understand how to integrate with a multitude of financial systems and rules. And at the center of that team is Lindsay Brown. As global head of beta testing, she leads a team that tests from the US to Europe and Asia, working alongside their customers to ensure that Square powers their business effectively.


Over five years, she’s grown her program’s adoption by 150%, scaled her team by four times, and helped modernize Square’s online beta testing community. And her passion for building incredible products, and leading a team effectively, really shone through during our conversation. Lindsay shared her wisdom on being curious, how she earned the title of “Queen of Feature Requests”, and why embracing healthy tension was vital for Square’s beta program.

If you’re someone looking for another playbook on how to run an amazing beta program, it’s all right here.

About Our Guest

Lindsay Brown is the Global Head of Beta Testing at Square. Over the past 5 years, she's grown her beta program's adoption by 150%, scaled her team by 4x, launched Square in new markets in Europe, and modernized her online beta testing community. She is passionate about building valuable products for business owners, and creating a culture of collaborative conflict to ship superior solutions.

Timestamps

(0:00) - Intro

(2:07) - Lindsay’s start at Square

(7:00) - Global Testing, Localization, and QA

(12:27) - Preconceptions and User Research

(15:04) - How Square’s approach has changed over the years

(20:44) - Leveraging “Healthy Tension” to enable success

(22:26) - What launching with confidence means to Square

(29:06) - Testing during COVID-19

(34:52) - How can AI affect the beta testing industry?

(41:17) - How to break down silos within an organization

(50:50) - Proper planning, tester engagement, and working with different financial regulations

(1:02:24) - What does the future of beta testing look like?

(1:05:41) - How has beta testing changed Square?



Zero-Cost Resources and Guides

Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit

Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit

Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes

Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit

The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual

The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map

Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit

Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit

The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta

About This Episode

On this episode of the Delta Huddle Podcast, Chris Rader and John S. Little from Centercode were joined by Joe Ghali and Ryan Cantwell, Principal Trainers and Consultants from the 280 Group.

Joe and Ryan have a combined 30 years of experience in the worlds of Product Management and Customer Success, helping teams in multiple sectors become more agile, vulnerable, and collaborative.

Both Joe and Ryan shared some valuable insights on how to properly integrate a well-run beta testing program into your workflow as a product manager. From listening to your customers and becoming more vulnerable and accepting to change, to transforming your users into brand evangelists, this episode is perfect for any product managers looking to launch with confidence.

Other topics include:


Why soft skills are essential in product management


Why curiosity and passion matter as a product manager


Centercode’s journey to launching a free beta testing platform for all


Why perfection can get in the way of progress



About Our Guests

Joe Ghali is a Principal Consultant and Trainer at 280 Group. He has over 15 years of experience in Product Management working for Fortune 100 & 500 organizations. Joe’s experience includes working in a variety of industries including travel, publishing, financial services, manufacturing, and consumer packaged goods (primarily in digital).

His experience as both a Product Manager and Product Owner has given a strong conviction that the most successful products are the result of strong Product and Agile teams who are transparent, collaborative, and vulnerable. And the key to those high performing teams is strong Product Management leadership at the helm.

Ryan Cantwell is a Principal Consultant and Trainer at the 280 Group with more than 15 years of professional experience in product management, applications engineering, and customer success.

Before joining the 280 Group, Ryan served in senior product roles at Industrial Scientific Corp and Automated Packaging System. Through these roles he has extensive experience leading development teams and software as a service (SaaS) solutions in a B2B environment. In addition, he has a track record of success designing products that solve customer problems and introducing continuous improvement practices within the product teams he serves.

Timestamps

(0:00) - Intro

(2:19) - Joe and Ryan’s start at the 280 Group

(7:10) - Coaching the foundations of product management and doing more with less

(16:07) - Curiosity, passion, and the importance of understanding your users

(22:15) - Beta programs, answering questions, and why soft skills are essential

(24:47) - How to prepare teams to launch with confidence and accept change

(35:18) - Going with your gut, understanding the data, and how beta justifies the “why”

(38:20) - The power of engagement and transforming users into evangelists

(46:40) - Progress vs. perfection, outcome vs. output, and advice for new product managers

Resources, Guides, and Tools

Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit

Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit

Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes

Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit

The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual

The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map

Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit

Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit

The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta

About This Episode:

In this episode, we had the pleasure of hosting a remarkable guest, Pete D'Alessandro, Director of Digital Products at Cast and Crew. With his extensive experience in the entertainment industry and expertise in software development, Pete brought a wealth of knowledge to our discussion.

Pete shared invaluable insights on managing beta testing and customer validation in the entertainment industry, particularly in screenwriting and customer validation processes.

D'Alessandro discusses the challenges of testing with a creative audience, saying, "No two writers work the same way. Nobody works the same way." He also shared his take on AI's impact on community building and content creation.

Key questions explored in this conversation include:

How crucial is user feedback in product development?

How can AI help make people smarter and more efficient in tasks like writing and searching for information?

What is the importance of strong relationships with clients and regularly receiving inside information to stay informed and make better decisions?

Tune in to learn valuable lessons from Pete D'Alessandro and Chris Rader on navigating the ever-evolving entertainment industry, emphasizing user-focused and agile product management.

About Our Guest:

Pete D’Alessandro has been a product manager in the entertainment industry for almost a decade, specializing in high-impact productivity tools. At Final Draft, the world’s leading screenwriting software, Pete led beta testing and customer validation through Final Draft 10 and Final Draft 11.Currently he’s the Director of Digital Products at Cast & Crew, where he’s driven customer validation to the forefront of product strategy, putting the user first.

Timestamps:

(0:00) - Intro

(1:50) - Cast & Crew, Final Draft, and the entertainment industry

(10:24) - Evolving Final Draft’s beta testing program via Centercode

(19:26) - Crafting personas and staying up to date with your audience with testing

(21:14) - The new paradigm of AI and how it affects everyone

(26:23) - Being nimble, staying on the cutting edge, and the human element

(39:40) - Understanding your audience to find real solutions

(48:37) - Beta testing as a safe space to share new ideas and collaborate with your audience

(52:45) - Advice to new product managers starting their journey in beta testing


Zero Cost Beta Testing Resources:

Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit

Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit

Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes

Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit

The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual

The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map

Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit

Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit

The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta

⭐️ Ready to beta test your product with Centercode? Sign up for free now and run a beta test today → https://bit.ly/centercode-home


🎉 Connect with us on social

Subscribe for more videos from Centercode: https://bit.ly/centercode-yt

LinkedIn — https://bit.ly/centercode-linkedin
Twitter — https://bit.ly/centercode-twitter
Facebook — https://bit.ly/centercode-fb
Podcast — https://spoti.fi/3PNYCiJ

About This Episode:

What does it mean to really value something? When it comes to products and product development, does that mean enjoying a certain set of features? Or does it go beyond the simple feature set to encompass how a product makes someone feel? Or how immersed they are while they use it?

Value is something that we’re always trying to provide - to whatever audience we serve, and in today’s episode, we had some amazing insight into what value means to every audience.

Here to discuss and explore these ideas with us is Paul Chen, Senior Director of E-Design at Mattel. Paul leads a global team at one of the world’s top toy companies to engineer and develop electronic designs that enable the next generation to explore the wonder of childhood. Paul brought a lot of amazing stories and insights to the table, from his time at Microsoft helping to launch Surface, to the quirks of developing routers for different audiences at Cisco and Linksys, and adopting the mindset that the designer isn’t always the user. Paul’s passion and love for design really shined through in this episode, and it was great being able to share his love for innovation with you all.





Paul Chen is the Senior Director of E-Design at Mattel, leading a global team that creates the electronics for toys and baby gear, focused on electronic designs that enable the next generation to explore the wonder of childhood.  

Prior to Mattel, Paul brought Agile Methodologies and Design Thinking/Human Centered Design to multiple companies as a Product Management Leader.  Paul is fiercely in love with innovation – with over 18 patents, worked on the earliest Wi-Fi chipset, and wrote the initial MRD and PRD for Microsoft Surface. 

As a people leader, Paul has established cohesive roll-out roadmap, dev cycle and release execution for multiple companies; securing #1 positions and market success with a portfolio of consumer products.



(0:00) - Intro

(01:55) - Paul’s career so far

(03:02) - Microsoft Surface, user design, and taking cues from users and competitors

(12:00) - Identifying what users value and combating cognitive bias

(18:40) - Mattel, testing with younger audiences, and Centercode

(26:20) - Understanding that you are not always the user

(30:00) - What users say vs. what users do, sentiment, and core user value

(33:50) - When to test, Barbie, product evolution, and knowing when to listen

(39:30) - Dogfooding, “tribal knowledge”, and learning from every user

(42:10) - Creating personas to represent numerous audiences in tests

(51:00) - Connecting with audiences in a meaningful way

(54:27) - What are you passionate about in beta testing?



Zero-Cost Resources and Guides:

Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit

Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit

Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes

Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit

The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual

The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map

Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit

Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit

The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta

About This Episode:

The world of music and audio is wildly creative, and within the art of creating the perfect song or crafting the right sound, feedback is essential. What’s even more creative, and possibly chaotic, is where music, audio, and technology cross paths with each other. It comes with its own set of unique challenges, but also its own realm of unique joys. Especially when it comes to handling a culturally significant musical legacy, or collecting insights from thousands of users across a global audience.

Joining Stefan Stenroos and Chris Rader to explore all these ideas is Jonathan Pardo, Producer at Google-owned VR developer Owlchemy Labs, and formerly of Sonos and Harmonix, the studio behind the Rock Band series.

Throughout his career in both video games and tech, Jonathan has had the opportunity to work on games such as Rock Band VR, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Fantasia: Music Evolved with Harmonix, and recently served as Manager of Beta Quality Engineering at Sonos, helping maintain a Beta Community of over 150k testers.

During our conversation, Jonathan brought some incredible stories to the table, from the importance of developing The Beatles Rock Band with care, to the “chaos mode” of testing, and how a career in QA can help you identify other exciting roles and disciplines.

Please leave us a comment or a question below for what you’d like to see next in the Delta Huddle Podcast.



About Our Guest:

Jonathan Pardo has worked in the video game and tech industry for fifteen years. He started his career with a decade at Harmonix Music, developing award-winning titles such as Rock Band VR, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Fantasia: Music Evolved. After Harmonix, Jonathan joined the smart speaker company Sonos, running software beta programs and maintaining the Sonos Beta Community of over 150k testers.

Jonathan is also a passionate VR developer, having founded Trio VR and The Pardo Brothers, the latter of which is actively developing the VR game SAXOPHONE. He is now a Producer at the Google-owned VR developer Owlchemy Labs.

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:51) - Jonathan's past companies and current projects

(12:02) - Working on The Beatles Rock Band

(19:53) - Unique feedback from Yoko Ono, demoing for Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

(24:41) - Immersive experiences and the importance of QA

(34:56) - Sonos, "Chaos Mode", and working with a massive community of testers

(42:58) - Centercode, templates, and the importance of having structure in testing

(48:04) - How will AI shape the future of beta testing?



Zero-Cost Resources and Guides
Beta Test Planning Kit: https://bit.ly/sw_plan_kit

Beta Recruitment Kit: https://bit.ly/recruit_kit

Centercode Visual Theming Guide: https://bit.ly/visual_themes

Beta Agreement Kit: https://bit.ly/agreement_kit

The Beta Shipping Manual: https://bit.ly/ship_manual

The Tester Engagement Pocket Guide: https://bit.ly/tester_map

Beta Test Incentive Kit: https://bit.ly/incentives_kit

Beta Test ROI Kit: https://bit.ly/beta_roi_kit

The Definitive Guide to Delta Testing: https://bit.ly/guide_to_delta