Answering Google’s access questions

When your closed test is done you apply for production access and answer questions about it. Google has not published a pass mark, and we cannot promise one. What you can do is answer truthfully, specifically and with evidence. Google’s own description is on its help page.

The three parts, and what backs each up

1. About your closed test

Google asks how easy it was to recruit testers, how engaged they were and what feedback you received. The useful facts are numbers and dates, not adjectives:

• How many testers were opted in, and from what date to what date.
• How often they used the app, as a share of days.
• How many wrote feedback, what they rated it and what they said.
• How you collected it (a form, direct messages, a community).

If you found testers yourself, say so, and say how hard it was. If you used a service or an exchange, say that. Describing how you recruited is part of the question, and it is better answered plainly.

2. About your app

Who it is for, what it offers them and a first-year install estimate. This part has nothing to do with testing. Be modest and specific; a number you can defend is better than an impressive one.

3. About production readiness

What did the test change? Name two or three real fixes that came from tester feedback, and what you checked before deciding to launch. If nothing changed, say what you tested and why you consider it ready. Invented changes are worse than none.

Using the TestersGuild report

At the end of a cohort the app builds one report per app from what the system recorded. It states: the number of testers who tested your app, when testing started and how many days it ran, the average share of tester-days with real use, how many testers wrote feedback and their ratings, up to five of the longest useful notes, and the versions you released while testing ran. It ends by telling you to add what you changed in your own words. It does not and cannot say why you released each version; that is for you to write.

Paste the facts into part 1, the highlights as evidence of feedback, and use your own list of fixes for part 3. See the sample report.

Do and do not

• Do keep your answers consistent with the numbers: if the report says 12 or more testers for 14 days, do not claim twenty.
• Do quote real tester notes, anonymised.
• Do not claim use the evidence does not show. Our report states use as recorded by the phone, and so should you.
• Do not write the answers only for the reviewer. Write what you would tell a colleague who asked how your test went.
• Do not promise yourself approval. A report is evidence, not a key.