5-Step Guide to Setting Up a Dogfooding Test at your Company
I’ve worked on mobile apps for consumer tech startups in for over a decade now as a PM. I cannot believe it has been this long. This is the most I’ve spent doing anything in my life. Needless to say I’ve made a ton of mistakes along the way and learned a lot. One of the consistent themes I’ve seen in my experience has been the importance and benefits of ‘Eating your own Dogfood’ or more simply said just, using your own products! Especially if you’re a consumer product. In my 10+ experience working on mobile apps, I’ve seen so many companies make the mistake of not investing enough time and effort into an internal dogfooding program that not only helps you find and resolve issues before you ship, but it improves collaboration and adds more value to your customers! After having gone through this experience, I now realize how completely essential and a no-brainer a dogfooding program is. In fact, this is the reason I started this company to spread this word and mission because I truly believe that you can transform your products and achieve better business outcomes by implementing these proven practices.
"Dogfooding is crucial to product success. Not only does it help to identify issues before they make it to the customer, but it also provides valuable insights into how the product is being used by those who know it best." - Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
I cannot overstate this enough, if you’re a small-midsize mobile app with at least 100s of thousands of users and over 15-20 employees, you must add dogfooding to your produce dev process. Period. If you need help, reach out and let me know! If you’re looking to set up a dogfooding program on your own, here are some tips from me and other experienced product and engineering managers that I’ve worked with:
Define Your Goals and Process: Start by defining what type of feedback you're looking for and set clear goals for the dogfooding period. Determine how long the dogfooding period will be, and make sure to communicate how people should report bugs. Establish a process for triaging issues that come in, and determine your next steps for addressing the feedback.
Communicate Clearly: Next, create a clear set of instructions for the dogfooding test. This should include any prerequisites for participation, such as what devices or operating systems are required. It should also communicate the goals of the program, what specific features or areas to focus on, and what kind of feedback is desired. For example, you may want to encourage testers to report any bugs or usability issues they encounter, or to focus on specific user flows or features that are new or recently updated.
In addition to instructions on what to test, be sure to communicate how to test. This includes providing access to release candidates or beta builds and instructions on how to install and use them. You should also provide a clear and easy-to-use way to report issues or feedback, such as a bug tracking system or feedback form. This cannot be stressed enough. This step is rarely done well at most companies and it causes a vicious cycle of confusion, questions, and time-wasted, causing the product team to get demotivated. This is your chance to explain the goals of the dogfooding and what you’re looking for and be transparent about any known issues. In summary, tell people exactly what to test, what to look out for, and give clear instructions for how to download the release candidates and report bugs.
Start the Dogfooding Period: This part is straightforward. You have to officially start and open up the floodgates. Begin the dogfooding period and ensure that all participants are clear on what to do. Monitor feedback as it comes in and make sure everyone is testing the correct builds. Be sure to communicate frequently and clearly throughout the dogfooding program. Send reminders and updates on progress, and be transparent about how feedback is being received and addressed. You may also want to create a leaderboard or other incentives to encourage participation and engagement from your testers.
Analyze Feedback: As feedback comes in, triage issues and prioritize those that are high priority or blockers. Talk to teams and individuals to better understand the feedback in more detail and gather more information about any issues. Analyze the feedback to identify patterns and determine the root cause of issues.
Prioritize and Figure Out Next Steps: Use the feedback to prioritize issues and determine next steps for addressing them. Communicate your timelines for the release and decide what will make the cut and what will be addressed in future releases. Launch your product with more confidence knowing that your team has already taken a spin and that you have addressed many of the issues that may have surfaced.
By following these steps, you can set up a successful dogfooding test that allows you to collect valuable feedback from your own team members, improve your product and launch with more confidence. Don’t stop here, keep the tests coming and involve your cross-functional leads to make sure they stay engaged with your process. At the end of the day, the whole cross-functional team is investing in making the product successful, not just the individual product teams. Reach out here if you have any questions. Best of luck!