>Hey catpou,
>
>I wasn't thinking about beta testers, I was more musing on what we could do in small shops to economically implement QA. I know, I know that most projects involving small customers are time-crunched; not the least because the timelines and budgets do not support formal functional specifications which are the bread-and-butter of good test plans.
>
>So what happens is a reiterative process where the app gets refactored until done good. But, as I'm sure you know, that costs *us*, the small developer, because those are unbilled clock cycles; although, I presumptively agree that the client certainly deserves the attention.
>
>I started this thread not to relive horror stories, but to come up with a way out if them that benefits us - the developers - and our customers who may or may not have the wherewithal to formally test.

Well .. one thing I think is really important is to have someone other than the developer test the app. Just like editing where you read what you expect to see .. we can get caught up in testing what we expect to happen. For small shops without official testers .. you can have one developer test another developer's code. Is also wise to have someone else .. a non-developer .. test the code.

A concept I really like when I worked at MSFT was the "Bug Bash". For those that don't know .. this is a day where everyone on the team gets to be a tester. There are no rules and you can test whatever part of the app you want. If you think a certain developer is weak in a certain area .. now's the time to try to break his or her code. Or if you suspect a problem in a certain area .. now's the time to see if you're right. It's a free-for-all test scenario.