Trusted Testers

Trusted Testers is not a new concept, but it is an idea and term that I wanted to attempt to define more precisely.

What is a Trusted Tester?

A trusted tester is generally a user or customer that you can trust to provide feedback about early access or beta releases of software, operating systems, or configurations. The goal here is to provide access to users you know have a history of, or the capacity to, open tickets when things don’t work as expected. Typically, they will be more “tech savvy” and will have a better understanding of when something may not be working as expected as the result of being on beta software.

Of note, these are not always the same as “power users” – who in my experience, are pretty bad about filing any kind of feedback about issues they encounter – who will fix the issues themselves, or work around them.

How many Trusted Testers should I have?

At a minimum, I would aim for 10-15% of your fleet, but if you have more users than this that met the criteria, the more the merrier. Depending on the size of your company or organization, you want to try to spread out your trusted testers. If possible, you want 1 or 2 users per business unit or department that can give you feedback on the apps that may only be used by the users in those areas.

What would a Trusted Tester test?

Anything that you may want feedback on before it is released and used by the entire user base.

Some typical ideas and examples

• These users may be part of your testing or prerelease catalogs in Munki. When combined with something like autopromote, these users should receive the software at least a few days before it is promoted to the primary production or release catalogs.
• These users may run Beta versions of software or operating systems.
  • Enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program (maybe with seedutil or a profile via MDM)
  • 1Password beta
  • Firefox Beta
  • Google Chrome Beta
  • Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta
• These users may be the first to test out new hardware or peripherals. This could be a new model MacBook Pro, a new monitor, or a new dock that needs to be tested. This provides an incentive to the user for being a Trusted Tester by giving them first shot at some of the latest technologies.

What should I do to help my Trusted Testers?

Prioritize you Trusted Testers

Your relationship with your trusted partners needs to be a two-way partnership. They will be taking a part of their day to help provide feedback, you need to be sure that you’re listening to and act on that feedback. If they file a ticket, make sure that ticket gets a special queue or tag, and make sure you reply to it sooner than you might with some of your other tickets. If the user reaches out over chat, work with them if possible, instead of immediately asking them to “file a ticket.”

Provide a backup solution

Running beta software has its risks. You should be ensuring that your Trusted Testers have the tools they need to keep their systems and data backed up. An encrypted 2TB external hard drive with Time Machine should be more than sufficient at a minimum. This allows for faster restore and recovery for the user to get back to their work if necessary.

If you’re a 100% cloud company, with no local files or documents, this potentially becomes even easier. Backups in the traditional sense aren’t needed, however, I would encourage you to work with your trusted testers to ensure they can recover from an Erase All Content and Settings (EACS) more frequently than a typical user. This may include things like syncing Visual Studio Code preferences, or even documenting application preferences with screenshots. This can help reduce the recovery time from a fresh wipe to when the user can be productive again.