<Project Name> Beta Plan This template is part of the Product LifeCycle Toolkit™ from the 280 Group. The 280 Group helps companies deliver products that delight their customers and produce massive profits™. They offer Product Management and Product Marketing consulting, contractors, training, certifications, books and templates. www.280group.com 408-834-7518 © 2011 280 Group LLC. All rights reserved. This document is governed by a single user license and is protected by US and International law. If others in your company wish to use this or the other 280 Group templates or toolkits please have them purchase their own license or contact the 280 group for multi-user pricing. How to Use This Document Notes appear in this style are to assist the writer. These notes can be deleted from the final document. The tag <body> is used as a placeholder for entering text. These are to be replaced with the actual content of your document. If a specific section or requirement category isn’t applicable to your project, it should still be included in the final document. Use the notation ‘N/A’ (not applicable) and possibly a brief reason why the section isn’t needed. If needed, add sections to cover issues specific to your company and product, following the style in this document. You may wish to record your assumptions and references in the last section of this document as you write it. Principles of Optimal Product Process Avoid duplication – Best content container – Different stages, authors, purpose Maintain history throughout Product Life Cycle – Revise one document, and only when necessary Works in Waterfall and Agile organizations Separate strategy from execution – Ensures you have everything important to product’s success Document is not a goal – How much/little you include is heavily dependent on situation – Each document could be as short as a dozen pages Purpose of this document This document is the description of the product’s beta program, its intended customers, timeline, and budget. The beta program is used to test the readiness of the product before launch, build relationships with customers, and to obtain success stories to be used in marketing programs. Bottom line – you are asking management to invest in your business opportunity Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary ...................................... 4 2 Goals and Objectives ................................... 4 3 Recruiting customers ................................... 4 3.1 Incentives to Participate ............................... 4 4 Criteria for Starting the Program................. 4 5 Schedule and Deliverables .......................... 5 5.1 Support ........................................................... 5 6 Budget ............................................................ 5 7 Success Criteria ............................................ 5 8 Risk Analysis................................................. 5 9 Assumptions ................................................. 6 10 Open Issues................................................... 6 11 Governance ................................................... 6 11.1 Document Approval....................................... 7 11.2 Core Project Team ......................................... 8 Beta Plan 1 Project Name Updated on 2/11/2020 Executive Summary Complete this section after completing all other sections. This section should be just one page but no more than two. It could be treated as a stand-alone document. Explain the Why, What, Where, Who, and When. Include a brief description of the product, its market and when it is expected to ship. <body> 2 Goals and Objectives Include concrete and measurable goals such as validating ship readiness, supplementing QA efforts, gathering early customer references, getting early feedback for the next release, ensuring a smooth launch by identifying and documenting key issues and/or supporting press or analyst early trials of the product. <body> 3 Recruiting customers Include information on how many customers will be initially recruited, how many will be chosen to participate and what the recruiting method and criteria will be. <body> 3.1 Incentives to Participate Include information about what incentives participants will be given to participate in the program. These could include helping to improve the product, free copies of the final shipping product, cash, giveaways, free support or a variety of other incentives. <body> 4 Criteria for Starting the Program Include specific and measurable criteria about what is required to start the program. This could include bug count stabilization, successfully running the software in-house for a period of time or having no known crashing bugs. © 2020 280 Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 4 of 8 Beta Plan Project Name Updated on 2/11/2020 <body> 5 Schedule and Deliverables Include a list of all of the deliverables, owners and an overall timeline of what will be happening and when. A well executed beta program can run take 8-12 weeks. <body> 5.1 Support Include information about what documentation will be delivered, what support will be provided for installation and ongoing technical problems, method for reporting bugs, promised level of support for customers and support methods that will be provided (phone, email, etc.). For hosted services also include information about the SLA (Service Level Agreement) and system availability. (e.g. beta site will be unavailable Monday-Friday from 5am to 5pm for system maintenance and updates). <body> 6 Budget Include information about all costs involved such as hardware being provided to customers, contractors to manage the beta process and travel to and from customer sites <body> 7 Success Criteria Include the specific criteria that will indicate that the beta program has been a success. This will either be based on your original goals or some subset of them (if they were stretch goals to begin with.) <body> 8 Risk Analysis Identify the key barriers that could impede the processes and/or services provided by the project. How will you overcome these barriers? How could the following affect your company? Probability could be simply low, medium, and high. Keep your answers brief. © 2020 280 Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 8 Beta Plan Risk Project Name Probability Impact Updated on 2/11/2020 Mitigation Contingency Accountable Change in technology Change in government regulations Change in the economy Change in your industry 9 Assumptions List any of the assumptions made in this document. <body> 10 Open Issues Track any open issues during the creation of this document. Once the issue is resolved, document it. Any unresolved issues should be assigned to a responsible party. Issue Resolution or Accountable 1. 2. 3. 11 Governance Describe the governance processes and structures within the company. What has happened up to this point, and what are the next steps? Be brief. <body> © 2020 280 Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 6 of 8 Beta Plan Project Name Updated on 2/11/2020 11.1 Document Approval List the roles and names of the contributors and key reviewers of this document. Function Name Contributor Reviewer Approval Date Executive Sponsor Technology Sponsor Budget/IT Analysts Division/Program Managers Information Security Officer Contract Manager Product Manager Director Product Management Marketing Director Vice President Product Management Director of Program Management Quality Director Chief Financial Officer © 2020 280 Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 8 Beta Plan Project Name Updated on 2/11/2020 11.2 Core Project Team Specify what commitments are required from each of the departments involved in the beta program. Include information such as support and promised response time (from sales engineers, engineering or QA), management of the program and communication with customers (by product management, contractors or other resources) and budget approval from management. For hosted products also include data on expected traffic levels and what is required to ensure the site continues to run acceptably. Role Name Responsibility Product Manager Product Marketing Project Manager Product Architect © 2020 280 Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 8 of 8
