RICE prioritisation calculator
RICE turns "which should we build first?" from an argument into a comparison. Score each idea on four factors, and the calculator ranks them for you.
Updated
The short answer
RICE is a prioritisation framework that scores each idea by Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort. The score is Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort, and higher scores go first. It was developed by the product team at Intercom to compare very different ideas on the same scale.
New to RICE? Start here
RICE helps you compare ideas that are hard to compare, like a small fix that everyone will use against a big feature for a few customers. Instead of arguing, you answer four questions about each idea, and the maths ranks them.
Reach
“How many people will this affect?”
Count people or events in one quarter. Use real numbers from your analytics where you can.
Example: “800 team leads open dashboards each quarter” = 800
Impact
“How much will it help each of those people?”
Pick from the scale: 3, 2, 1, 0.5 or 0.25.
Example: Saves a team lead 10 minutes every morning = 2 (High)
Confidence
“How sure are you about the Reach and Impact numbers?”
100%, 80% or 50%, based on your evidence.
Example: Customers asked for it, but you haven't tested it = 80%
Effort
“How much work will it take?”
Person-months across product, design and engineering.
Example: 2 engineers for 3 weeks plus a designer for 1 week = about 1.6
RICE score = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) ÷ Effort. Big reach, big impact and high confidence push the score up; lots of effort pulls it down.
How to score, step by step
- List the ideas you're choosing between. Five to fifteen works best.
- Pick one time period for Reach, usually a quarter, and use it for every idea.
- Score Reach for every idea, using data where you have it.
- Score Impact using the scale below. Be strict: most ideas are 1 or lower.
- Score Confidence honestly. If you're guessing, it's 50%.
- Ask the people who'll do the work to estimate Effort.
- Sort by score, then sense-check the top three. If one feels wrong, check which number is driving it.
| Impact scale | Score | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Massive | 3 | Changes whether people can do their job at all, or is a main reason to choose the product |
| High | 2 | A big improvement to something people do often |
| Medium | 1 | A noticeable improvement to a common task |
| Low | 0.5 | Nice to have, and people would notice it |
| Minimal | 0.25 | Barely noticed |
| Confidence | Score | What you're basing it on |
|---|---|---|
| High | 100% | Analytics data, or tested with real users |
| Medium | 80% | Some evidence: customer requests, interviews, support tickets |
| Low | 50% | Mostly gut feel. Consider doing discovery before building. |
Score your ideas
Pulse Analytics ideas
Example data4 ideas| # | Idea | Reach | Impact | Confidence | Effort | RICE score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dashboard builder | High · big win on a frequent task | Some evidence | person-months | 640TOP | |
| 2 | Dashboard builder | Low · nice to have | Data or tested | person-months | 600 | |
| 3 | Reporting | Medium · noticeable | Some evidence | person-months | 480 | |
| 4 | Sharing and permissions | Massive · core to the job | Gut feel | person-months | 250 |
- #1 · TOPDashboard builder
Reach
Effort
ImpactHigh · big win on a frequent task
ConfidenceSome evidence
800 × 2 × 0.8 ÷ 2 = 640
- #2 · Dashboard builder
- #3 · Reporting
- #4 · Sharing and permissions
How to fill it in
- Reach
- How many people or events this affects in a set period, usually a quarter. Use real data where you have it, such as "800 team leads open dashboards each quarter".
- Impact
- How much it moves the goal for each person reached: 3 massive, 2 high, 1 medium, 0.5 low, 0.25 minimal.
- Confidence
- How sure you are about your Reach and Impact numbers: 100% with data, 80% with some evidence, 50% on a hunch. Below 50%, do more discovery first.
- Effort
- Total person-months across product, design and engineering. Use whole or half months; precision here is false comfort.
Worked example
"Saved dashboard views" reaches 800 team leads a quarter, with high impact (2) and medium confidence (80%), for 2 person-months: 800 × 2 × 0.8 ÷ 2 = 640. "Share a dashboard with a team" has massive impact (3) but low confidence (50%) and costs 3 person-months: 500 × 3 × 0.5 ÷ 3 = 250. The bigger idea scores lower because you're less sure of it and it costs more. That's RICE doing its job: the answer might be to run discovery on sharing before building it.
Where RICE falls short
- It ignores dependencies: a low-scoring item might unblock three high-scoring ones.
- It ignores deadlines: regulatory or contractual dates don't show up in the score.
- It favours small, safe bets. Leave room for strategic work the score can't capture.
Use the score to start the conversation, not end it. For deadline-driven work, WSJF weighs time criticality directly.
Scores in a spreadsheet
- Scored once, then forgotten
- Not linked to the objective each idea serves
- Nobody sees why the order changed
Priorities in Ondule
- Plan the top items as epics under their objective
- Record the prioritisation as a decision, with the reason
- See the winners move through milestones and sprints
How to do this in Ondule
Questions
- How is a RICE score calculated?
- Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort. For example, 800 × 2 × 0.8 ÷ 2 = 640.
- What is a good RICE score?
- There's no absolute good score. RICE is for ranking items against each other in the same backlog, using the same scales.
- What is the difference between RICE and WSJF?
- RICE ranks by value per unit of effort. WSJF, used in SAFe, also weighs time criticality and risk reduction, which suits deadline-driven work.