A pilot test involves testing a solution with a chosen group over a longer period of time before full release. It has clear goals and an onboarding plan. Benefits include validating the solution, understanding true project scope, and ensuring reliability. Key steps are to hold a kickoff meeting to define the scope, gather information on testers and locations, then conduct the pilot while measuring success through communication, monitoring, and data compilation. Examples provided test government websites, learning programs, and solutions from IDEO.org.