RESEARCH METHOD

68 Rapid Iterative Testing & Evaluation (RITE)

RITE is a powerful formative usability inspection method that helps teams identify and remove major problems in an interface early in the design process before costly prototypes are built.

Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) is a rigorous method that can be used to evaluate and identify interface problems, quickly fix them, and then empirically verify the efficacy of the fixes,¹ using a rapid test–fix–test–fix approach. Formative usability testing methods such as RITE are used to gain exploratory insights into the user behavior as it relates to the overall design direction, with the intention of quickly iterating and fixing problems, as opposed to summative goals, which seek to find and measure usability issues.² For RITE, this distinction is important, as the power of the method depends on the early identification of the big problems that block people from completing a task, and on uncovering issues that fail to meet one of the overarching goals of the design. Other ways RITE as a formative method differs from traditional summative usability tests include the following:

• RITE can be used early in the design process as a guide through the design solution space, rather than trailing behind development to identify usability problems in later phases.

• Prototypes are changed as soon as problems are identified and the team agrees to a solution—usually within a few hours of the session. The fix is then retested with more participants.

• No usability reports are written, as an updated prototype serves as the new design direction.

• The number of scheduled tests (and by extension, the number of participants you have to schedule) continues after each design change until there is a consecutive string of successful tests with no failures.

• It is preferred that observers and facilitators have domain expertise over test facilitation expertise. Domain knowledge can help observers prioritize fixes based on their judgment of what is truly a problem versus what is an artifact of a particular participant.

RITE can be scheduled as soon as you have a low-fidelity prototype to test. When a team adopts the process, RITE has the power to promote a shared understanding about the ways in which end users cognitively process an interface, how they go about solving problems, and successfully completing tasks. It is an effective and reliable method that helps teams to immediately identify and remove the biggest issues blocking task completion early in the process, before time and resources are spent producing a high-fidelity prototype.

1. In 2002, researchers from Microsoft Games documented the RITE method while designing and testing Age of Empires II. They presented the method and the case study at the 2002 UPA Conference. See:

Medlock, Michael C., Dennis Wixon, Mark Terrano, Ramon L. Romero, and Bill Fulton. “Using the RITE Method to Improve Products: A Definition and a Case Study.” UPA Conference Proceedings, 2002.

2. Schrag, John. “Using Formative Usability Testing as a Fast UI Design Tool.” UPA Conference Proceedings, 2006.

3. See note 2 above.

Further Reading

Courage, Catherine, and Kathy Baxter. Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2005.

Sawyer, Paul, Alicia Flanders, and Dennis Wixon. “Making a Difference—The Impact of Inspections.” CHI Conference Proceedings, 1996.