[aryker]

One good way to do it that doesn't require additional hardware or more complex setup is to build a control board for testing, on a piece of plywood or some such. Build it so that you can easily hook up and disconnect any components you want to test, and write some basic code to spin up motors or what have you. This does require an additional cRIO, Digital Sidecar, etc., so if your team does not have those to spare, the multimeter is probably the best option.