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March 2006
Ooops - Download URL updated
March 27, 2006
It seems I got ahead of myself and "released" an update without updating the URL to download the latest version. For those that downloaded the latest version of Test Run, and got Beta 7, my apologies. You can now download the actual latest version of Test Run via the usual download page. Doh!
Announcing Test Run Beta 8
March 25, 2006
Earlier today I wrote about the challenges of choosing between new features and fixing bugs. Well, bugs unfortunately are a reality. And Test Run Beta 7 had tons of them, and honestly, I feel guilty about that. But with this most recent release I feel like we are starting to turn a corner as the major features I wanted to launch with get checked off the list and I have more time to devote to “polish” and detail.
Balancing Acts: New Features or Maintenance
March 25, 2006
One of the hardest tasks of a product manager is striking a balance between developing one of the cool features that you have been talking about forever, or fixing one the many nagging issues that has been annoying your users for an equally long time. If you are lucky then you have the resources to devote to both and circumstances will give you the freedom to make that choice, because sometimes circumstances demand that certain issues are addressed.
Test Run faces this challenge like every other product. For the past several months a design team and I have been iterating on a new user interface for Test Run. The new UI will be a great leap in usability. Meanwhile, Test Run development has stagnated. Major bugs have pestered users and prevented wide adoption. So it is time to shift our focus back to development. While the design team starts to build out the new user interface, I have turned my attention back to the existing application focusing on bug squashing, and the polish necessary to prepare for a broader launch.
To be frank, I regret assigning the label “beta” to Test Run. It should have been labeled “alpha” as Test Run is still quite rough around the edges. But that doesn’t seem to deter people. More users download and sign up for Test Run everyday, a testament to the promise is has for enterprises.
Growing Up
March 22, 2006
It has been a number of months since Test Run received an update, which begs the question, “what has the Test Run team been up to?” A valid question, and one a number of customers have asked me over IM and email. I embarked on creating Test Run not because I wanted to produce a cool demo, or the latest Web 2.0 product craze, which I feel fuels a lot of invention in the industry recently. I started this project because a number of people I trust and whose opinions I put a lot of stock in, told me that the product I was building had real value to them personally. That inspired me to finish a project I started a long time ago, and to take a stab at creating a better way to do test planning, management, execution and reporting.
About Byrne Reese
Byrne Reese is a product manager by day and an engineer by night.
He conceived of Test Run to help project managers like him stay up to date and informed of what his team was working on.