Guidelines

What is a Field Trial?

A Field Trial is a beta testing program that a partner runs with their internal user community. It may or may not include employees of Google. Depending on the feature release, the Field Trial will last from 2-4 weeks. At the end of the Field Trial, you'll administer a survey questionnaire to your field testers to collect feedback.

Are Field Trials mandatory?

No. A Field Trial is not always required, but it is strongly encouraged and highly recommended.

What kind of information should you collect from users?

Device Onboarding

1. Is this a new device or an existing device?
1. New device
1. Was the user able to add the device successfully into the Google Home app (GHA) by using the QR code?
2. If the device was being onboarded into the partner app, did the onboarding take place without any issues?
2. Existing device
1. Was the device migrated over successfully?
2. Does the correct number of devices show (is deduplication working)?
2. Get a user perspective on how long it takes to onboard the device.

Commands

1. Execution of commands
   1. Depending on the devices being used (for example, light, plug, thermostat, door lock), write up individual execution commands to capture if executions happened correctly through voice and touch commands from various initiators (smart display, phone running GHA, Google Assistant).
   2. Get a user perspective on how long it takes to execute a command on the device.
2. Device query
   1. Query the device for its states (on, off, brightness, color, temperature, lock status, and so forth) and verify that the responses are correct.
   2. Get a user perspective on time taken to query the device.

What information should you record about the Field Trial itself?

1. Types of devices being tested in the Field Trial.
2. Google Home Device SDK details/versions.
3. Google Home Mobile SDK details/versions.
4. Field trial duration.
   1. Start time/date.
   2. End time/date.
5. Associated project ID.

What kind of feedback should you solicit from your users?

Capture open feedback from users regarding their experience using the Matter device. While earlier feedback was structured, the objective of Field Trial feedback is to get candid, unstructured input from users. This information will help you understand the level of excitement and satisfaction experienced by the users when interacting with the device.

What information will you share with Google?

You may share the information gathered during your Field Trial with Google. Ensure that you are comfortable sharing the information captured in the field trial and that it does not contain personally identifiable information (PII). Obfuscate emails, phone numbers, and names that may be in the survey and replace them with an ID tag representing the user.