Checkpoint - Beta Tests For Life
So… I actually stepped forward and applied the ideas outlined in Beta Tests for Life to my project list.
Step one, of course, was to *create* a project list. So I pulled up ListPro, and dumped every one of my major projects, current and potential, onto a list. I wound up with 16 projects, and one sub project, in 6 categories. Geeze, no wonder I get confused!
Then I created a category key, that I plonked onto the bottom of the page…
Stage Descriptions
- Pre-Alpha Conceptual/Planning, Research
- Alpha Rough Draft Version, Basic Development, Supply Gathering
- Beta Working Prototypes for Evaluation/Trial
- Gold Released in the “Wild”… Live (but still modifiable with versions)
After assigning these categories, I wound up with one project in Gold (with a subproject in Beta), two others in Beta, and 13 in pre-alpha…. and I’ve already learned a couple of things from the exercise.
- I’m not nearly as distracted and unorganized as I think. I have a lot of ideas floating around in pre-alpha, but my actual energy investment is limited to a few well-developed projects.
- It wouldnt take much energy to move a few of the Beta projects into Gold, and I can see where to invest the energy for the biggest pay off.
- I can pick and choose which pre-alpha projects to invest time into, at a glance… and I can recognize that but choosing one today doesn’t mean NOT choosing the others tomorrow, or even this afternoon.
Most of all, the “Beta Test” approach gets me around the sense of anxiety and pressure I normally feel from lists. THIS list is all about test marketing, trials, and what I learn from them, rather than the neurotic chicken dance of “I must be successful, which one of these projects will be successful?” I can see the Gold project as a real accomplishment, just because it’s Out There, even if it doesn’t make a lot of money. And I feel a sense of permission to develop or trash any of the other projects, because they are still in assessment stages.
So far, my informal Beta Test of Beta Testing as an organizational method is looking promising… even though it’s in an alpha stage, rather than beta.
Inspired by: LifeHacker: Beta Test Your Goals
