The RICE Prioritization Framework: A Complete Guide

What is RICE?

RICE is one of the most popular prioritization frameworks used by product teams. Developed at Intercom, it provides an objective way to score and rank features, projects, or initiatives.

RICE stands for:

• Reach — How many people will this impact?
• Impact — How much will it impact each person?
• Confidence — How confident are you in your estimates?
• Effort — How much work will it take?

The Formula

The RICE score is calculated as:

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

Estimating Each Factor

Reach

Reach is the number of people or events per time period. For example: "500 customers per month" or "1,000 transactions per quarter."

Impact

Impact is typically scored on a scale:

• 3 = Massive impact
• 2 = High impact
• 1 = Medium impact
• 0.5 = Low impact
• 0.25 = Minimal impact

Confidence

Confidence is a percentage:

• 100% = High confidence
• 80% = Medium confidence
• 50% = Low confidence

Effort

Effort is measured in person-months. A project needing 1 designer for 2 weeks and 2 engineers for 4 weeks equals roughly 2.5 person-months.

Pro tip: Review RICE scores with your team to calibrate estimates and catch blind spots.

When to Use RICE

RICE works best when:

• You have a large backlog to prioritize
• You need to communicate priorities objectively
• Stakeholders have competing demands
• You want to reduce bias in decision-making

For more frameworks like this, check out The Product Director Handbook.