Lean Testing Specification Template for Product Managers
In my first formal Product Manager job, I was responsible for building and releasing a meditation app, and when I say it was a crash course in all things product, I’m not exaggerating.
The start-up was a small but ambitious team; for my app, my product team consisted of myself and one mobile developer. I had guidance from the founders, of course, and was able to work with external graphic and UX designers, however, it was a lot of figuring out how to do all the things that are necessary for releasing an app as someone who had never done this before with limited time, experience, and resources.
That’s why I want to focus on one of the final hurdles in the release experience — testing! I had a week planned for testing, and had originally hoped to have myself and my sole developer sit in a room and go through the whole experience systematically would be enough to iron out all the bugs and make sure everything was seamless.
Things rarely go to plan — my developer was pulled into work for another product. While some others were able to offer informal feedback, all quality assurance and testing became my responsibility.
So for any newer Product Managers in a lean situation, here’s what I learned. There’s a template at the end for a testing specification too that you’re welcome to copy. I’d also love to hear about your experiences with testing in this kind of situation!
