Prioritisation

RICE Prioritisation

Prioritise options by Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort.

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What the framework is

RICE prioritises product ideas on four factors:

  • Reach: how many people it affects in a period.
  • Impact: how much it matters to each of them.
  • Confidence: how sure you are about the other estimates.
  • Effort: how much work it takes.

Intercom developed it. The classic score is reach × impact × confidence ÷ effort. CleanRanking doesn't multiply estimates. Instead, the group compares ideas two at a time on each factor, and the factors are combined with weights.

When it earns its place

Use it for roadmaps, feature requests and backlog reviews, where ideas differ in how many users they touch. The trap is that reach numbers look precise and quietly dominate, while confidence becomes a fudge factor. Comparing ideas head to head makes each judgement visible.

How to run it with a group

  1. List six to ten candidate features, each in a few words that everyone will read the same way.
  2. Agree the period for reach, for example users per quarter.
  3. Participants compare the features two at a time on each factor, on their own phones, with no account. Less effort ranks higher.
  4. Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per factor. A feature that wins on reach but comes last on confidence needs evidence before anyone commits to it.

What the result looks like

EXAMPLE
Which features should we build next quarter?
Top ranked
Bulk import
Reach 92%
Impact 63%
Confidence 38%
Effort 75%
64
67%
Rank Option Reach
25%
 Impact
25%
 Confidence
25%
 Effort
25%
 Points
(unweighted)
 Win Rate
(weighted)
01 Bulk import
92%
22 Wins · 2 Losses
63%
15 Wins · 9 Losses
38%
9 Wins · 15 Losses
75%
18 Wins · 6 Losses
64
67%
02 Saved searches
42%
10 Wins · 14 Losses
58%
14 Wins · 10 Losses
71%
17 Wins · 7 Losses
33%
8 Wins · 16 Losses
49
51%
03 Team permissions
17%
4 Wins · 20 Losses
29%
7 Wins · 17 Losses
42%
10 Wins · 14 Losses
42%
10 Wins · 14 Losses
31
32%
Scoring Explanations
CRITERIA WEIGHTINGS — The % weighting for each criterion is shown in the table header. Unless this was entered in the setup, the weighting is equal across criteria.
POINTS — The total points across all criteria, unweighted: a win is 1 point, a tie or a skip is half a point, a loss is 0.
WIN RATE — The weighted average score per criterion, expressed as a percentage. A win counts as 1, a tie or a skip counts as half, a loss counts as 0, and every comparison shown counts in the total, skips included. Averaged across criteria using the assigned weightings.