The RICE model is a framework designed by Intercom to assist product managers to determine which features and products should be prioritised on roadmaps. RICE was developed from first principles and comprises four factors (Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort) and a method for combining them.
Source: Intercom
Reach
A relative estimate of how many customers a feature, project or thing will impact typically within a defined time period. Whilst Intercom suggests use definitive measurement (i.e. total customers), Prioritizr at this stage provides a sliding scale from “None” (0%) to “All” (100%) customers.
Impact
A relative measure of how much a feature, project or thing will impact each customer. This is difficult to measure precisely, so a factor-based approach is used which helps teams indicate “None” impact (0) to “Massive” (3). Reach is multiplied by an impact score to provide a pseudo value score (i.e. Reach x Impact).
Confidence
A relative measure of how confident you are in your estimates, which help moderate the Reach and Impact scores. This is expressed as a percentage from “None” (0%) to “High” (100%).
Effort
A relative measure of how much effort is required to complete a feature, project or item. Typically this is estimated in months with Prioritizr providing a sliding scale from “None” (0) to “Large” (12). This upper limit has been set to encourage teams to break down anything that could take longer than 12 months to deliver value to customers.
Score
The total score is calculated by multiplying reach, impact and confidence, then dividing by the effort. This equation provides a mechanism for prioritizing the highest value (reach and impact) things that the team has confidence in and can be done quickly.