beta-program
Closed Beta Program Playbook
Overview
A structured playbook for running a closed beta that produces clear learning, retained design partners, and an unambiguous decision on whether to proceed to general availability. Most betas fail not because the product is wrong, but because the program is run informally: recruitment is opportunistic, success criteria are implicit, communication is sporadic, and exit gates are never defined. This skill replaces all of that with concrete templates and decision rules.
A good closed beta runs 4-8 weeks, recruits 10-30 participants from three concentric cohorts ("friends, family, fanatics"), publishes a weekly cadence the team commits to, and exits on pre-agreed criteria rather than the calendar. The outputs are a beta program plan, a recruitment script, a weekly cadence template, and an exit memo that either greenlights GA, extends the beta, or kills the feature.
Core Capabilities
- Cohort design — sequence recruitment through Friends → Family → Fanatics rings of decreasing trust and increasing signal.
- Kano scoping — decide the beta feature set (Must-be / Performance / Delight) so the beta produces quotable testimonials, not neutral feedback.
- Exit gates — quantitative + qualitative success criteria set before recruitment, resolving to Greenlight / Extend / Pivot / Kill.
- Weekly cadence — a committed Monday→Friday communication rhythm that keeps a beta from dying of silence.