What Is the RICE Prioritization Model And How Does It Work?

In the popping heart of tech, where new ideas sprout faster than we can tend to them, Intercom—a messaging software company—found itself at a crossroads. Sean McBride, a product manager at Intercom, withal with his team, rifled through a storeroom of prioritization models, trying to find the one that would weightier serve their unique challenges. And while these pre-existing models offered insights, none truly resonated with the precise needs of Intercom’s ever-expanding universe of project ideas.

So, what does a visitor do when it’s unprotected between a waddle and a nonflexible place? It innovates.

McBride and his team weren’t well-nigh to let existing models hold them back. They rolled up their sleeves and carved out their own….

Enter the RICE prioritization model—a fresh, pragmatic tideway that melds four translucent factors: reach, impact, confidence, and effort.

By devising a formula that churned these elements together, the team birthed a tool that spat out a clear, transitory score for any project idea thrown its way. No increasingly second-guessing. No increasingly “what if?” Just a straight-up, objective system to guide their product roadmap. And guess what? This wasn’t just a makeshift tool—it dramatically refined Intercom’s decision-making prowess.

Stripped lanugo to its core, RICE is a steer for product managers navigating the foggy waters of product roadmaps. It’s a straightforward framework, yet profound in its application, helping teams pinpoint which projects deserve the limelight based on four pivotal criteria. If you’ve overly felt overwhelmed by the tidal wave of tasks taxing your attention, RICE might just be your lifesaver.

Now, let’s uncover the heart of the RICE model and learn how you too can wield it in your arena.

The 4 Factors of the RICE Prioritization Model

RICE stands as a compass, directing you through the storm of decisions with its four strategic points:

Reach

Here’s where we step when from our personal inclinations, putting ourselves in the shoes of the users.

Reach asks a hair-trigger question: how many people will this project resonate with over a specified period? For example, for my team at LifeHack, this might translate to “how many members will this project impact over a single quarter?”.

The key? Concrete numbers. No magic, no guessing—reach is framed in terms of people or events per time period, be it “customers per quarter” or “sales per month”. It calls for data-driven evidence, not hopeful conjectures pulled from the ether.

Impact

Impact is the muscle of the project, the gravity it exerts on individual users. Will it nudge the needle, and if so, how far?

For one team, it might be quantified as “how much will this project increase the conversion rate when a user subscribes to it?”

Exact measurement can be elusive, so Intercom sets a scale

• 3 for “massive impact”
• 2 for “high”
• 1 for “medium”

It’s a system that, while not perfect, avoids leaving us stranded in the swamp of subjective guesswork.

Confidence

Amid the sparkle of would-be ideas, conviction acts as the reality check. It begs the question: how unrepealable are you, really, well-nigh these estimates? This factor is the reins that slow you lanugo when you’re charging superiority with little increasingly than upper hopes.

Confidence is expressed as a percentage. Simple choices alimony the process nimble and stave visualization quagmire:

• 100% for “high confidence”
• 80% for “medium”
• 50% for “low”

It’s a moment for unslanted reflection: how solid is the ground you’re towers on?

Effort

Effort is the resource toll: the time and energy that you and your team will need to pour into this project. It’s counted in “person-months”, a rough estimate of the work one team member can do in a month.

Here, whole numbers (or 0.5 for lighter loads) suffice. In RICE, increasingly effort doesn’t earn a gold star—it unquestionably dilutes the score, reminding you that speed and agility are virtues.

In a world where ‘more’ is often seen as ‘better’, RICE flips the script. It’s the quiet but steadfast guide that whispers,

“Choose wisely. Make it count.”

How to Use the RICE Model (Step-by-Step Guide)

The RICE model isn’t a ramified riddle—it’s a compass, designed to steer you powerfully through the waves of projects and features..

1. Map Out the Terrain

First, jot lanugo a list of the potential new product features waiting to be prioritized. This isn’t limited to the new and shiny; it includes the stalwarts of your reservoir too.

2. Assign the Scores

Estimate:

• Reach. For each venture on your list, gauge how many users will finger its presence. A specific time frame can alimony this tidy—like users per month. If revenue sings to you, MRR is a worthy number to serenade.
• Impact. Foresee the ripples each project could make on user satisfaction or revenue. Your scale might read ‘minimal’ at the low end and crescendo to ‘massive’. Tune this scale to the melodies of your consumer feedback.
• Effort. Sum up the hours or months your team needs to invest wideness all fronts—development, design, testing.
• Confidence. Measuring the strength of your convictions, are these estimates waddle solid (100%) or increasingly unreceptive to throwing darts in the visionless (<50%)?

3. Crunch Those Numbers

With your scores set, wield the formula for each project or feature:

RICE Score = (Reach * Impact * Confidence) / Effort

To help you do the math, I’ve crafted a Notion Template in which you only need to plug in those estimates.

4. Arrange the Projects

Arrange the projects or features by their RICE scores, highest first. Normally, these upper flyers are the treasures you’re hunting—they get built first.

5. Huddle with Your Crew

Lay the scores and your proposed route on the table for your team and stakeholders to see. Here’s where the debate heats up, where you untangle discrepancies, tackle concerns, or unearth new insights that could sway the journey.

6. Tweak and Revise

Consistently revisit and retune your RICE scores as fresh intel rolls in or as your company’s flag is hoisted in new directions. This ensures your team’s energy sails in harmony with your ever-evolving goals and that your treasure—time—is spent wisely.

Case Study

Our team had a slew of potential projects, ranging from redesigning our website to developing a new undertow and launching an email newsletter series. With limited resources, we needed a rational way to decide what to tackle first. So we used the RICE model to help us prioritize:

1. Identifying Projects

Our options: website redesign, new online undertow development, and email newsletter series launch.

2. Defining the Factors

We well-timed Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort to LifeHack’s goals—namely, increasing user engagement and undertow enrollments.

3. Scoring Each Factor

For the website redesign:

• Reach: high—impacting 95% of our users
• Impact: upper (3x), expecting improved user wits and undertow sign-ups
• Confidence: 85% Confident in these estimates
• Effort: pegged at 2 person-months.

For the new online course:

• Reach: 60% of our existing user base, as per previous undertow enrollment rates
• Impact: upper (3x), expecting it to uplift LifeHack’s reputation and revenue
• Confidence: 80%
• Effort: 3 person-months.

For the email newsletter series:

• Reach: 70% of our subscribers
• Impact: upper (3x), yoyo it would foster user loyalty and encourage undertow sign-ups
• Confidence: 90% Confident in these estimates
• Effort: 2 person-months.

4. Calculating RICE Scores

After the math, the website redesign had the highest RICE score, suggesting it was the most efficient way to unzip impactful results.

So our project rankings are:

1. Website Redesign
2. Email Newsletter Series
3. New Online Undertow Development

5. Trammels with the Team and Adjust When Necessary

I shared these rankings with our team and stakeholders. We had a discussion, with some unexpected insights from our consumer support team, who noted frequent user requests for a new course.

Given this new feedback, we decided to re-evaluate the Reach and Conviction factors for the new online course, which moved it to the second of our priority list.

Bottom Line

The RICE model is your compass, turning uncounted options into a well-spoken path. It provides a systematic approach, helping you wordplay the pivotal question, ‘what comes next?’ with data, not just gut feeling. It’s well-nigh aligning your team’s efforts with impactful projects, justified by transparent, quantifiable criteria.

As your goals evolve, RICE adapts. It encourages regular re-evaluation, ensuring your team’s focus stays sharp and relevant.

With RICE in hand, you can set sail purposefully towards meaningful impact.

TL;DR

Don't have time for the full article? Read this.

The RICE model is a prioritization framework co-developed by Sean McBride at Intercom to systematically decide on product roadmaps.

RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort—four factors used to evaluate and score project ideas.

Reach estimates how many people a project will stupefy within a specified time.Impact assesses how significantly a project will influence those it reaches, measured on a scale (Massive to Minimal).

Confidence is a percentage reflecting your trust in the Reach and Impact estimates.

Effort estimates the total work required to well-constructed a project, usually in person-months.

The RICE score is calculated as (Reach * Impact * Confidence) / Effort, generating a single, comparable score for each project idea.

Regularly revisit and update RICE scores in response to new information or waffly organizational goals.

Using the RICE model promotes data-driven decisions, enabling teams to focus on impactful projects aligned with overall objectives.

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