RICE Prioritization Template
Evaluate and prioritize project and product ideas based on reach, impact, confidence, and effort.
About the RICE Template
The RICE framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort) helps product teams evaluate and prioritize new ideas before building a product roadmap. This RICE template makes it easy to gain perspective and prioritize effectively.
Your typical product roadmap contains a ton of moving parts — lots of exciting ideas that your team might be eager to implement ASAP. Using the RICE template, you can make sure that you stay on track throughout the entire process. You’ll be able to prioritize the most important tasks and focus on creating a product roadmap that’ll bring you the most success.
What is a RICE framework?
When you think about your ultimate goal, delighting your customers, it’s hard not to get overwhelmed with all these new ideas. Teams might be tempted to dive right into the cleverest ones first without considering the potential lift. When there’s so much to consider, how do you determine priorities?
This is where the RICE prioritization framework can help.
The RICE acronym stands for reach, impact, confidence, and effort — four factors to help you evaluate and prioritize ideas. It’s a prioritization process that allows your team to consider each project and assess its feasibility. When used correctly, it can have a massive impact on the direction and growth of your business.
How do you use the RICE template?
Miro makes following the RICE framework easy with this handy template. Get started by opening the RICE template on a board, then take the following steps:
1. Evaluate the reach of a project
How many people will the project affect? Will your customer see a direct impact? Typically, teams measure reach as the number of people impacted or the number of events occurring in a given period of time.
For some teams, this means customers per quarter. For others, page views per month. It’s important to quantify this value with real data, such as product metrics. Remember, the outcome of this exercise is a numerical value that will help you prioritize tasks.
2. Think about the impact of the project
If reach is how many people will be affected by this project, impact measures the effect itself. Let’s say you’re launching a new paid feature in your app. reach is the number of people affected by this launch, while impact is how likely the launch is to convert them to paying customers.
Unlike reach, impact can be difficult to quantify. Many teams evaluate impact scores using a scale from 1 to 3. 1 is low impact, 2 is medium, and 3 is high.
3. Define your confidence score
How confident are you that this project will have the desired impact? It might be the greatest idea you’ve ever had, but if you don’t have the data to corroborate its success, it might not make sense to work on it right now.
Your confidence score is evaluated as a percentage. 100% is total confidence, 80% signifies optimism but not total certainty, and 50% is low confidence. Anything under 50% is very low.
4. Think about effort
What’s the total time it will take to complete this project? To evaluate effort, don’t just think about the project itself, but also think about the teams who will contribute. It might take four days to complete the project as a whole, which breaks down into ten hours for engineering, 12 hours for marketing, and so on.
Your effort score is measured in person-months or the work that one team member can execute in a month.
5. Calculate your score
To get a RICE score for a particular task, perform the following simple calculation:
Reach x Impact x Confidence / Effort
A higher score indicates that you’ll get more value for your time. In other words, you’ll spend less time working on it but yield the best results.
Although a lower score suggests less value, it doesn’t mean it’s not important. Park it for now and return to it when the time is right. For now, you need to focus on your top priorities, which will be the tasks with the higher scores.
6. Repeat the process for each task
Compile a list of tasks and scores to assess your priorities. By the end of this process, you’ll have a clear idea of what to do going forward.
When to use RICE
RICE is an adaptable scoring model. It forces you to think through how and why a project idea will or will not have an impact. It removes some of the emotion from the decision-making process, making it easier for teams to come to a consensus.
Here are some common scenarios where using the RICE framework template can be helpful for teams:
You’re struggling to narrow down your ideas. Working in a team is great, but it often means that you have various ideas and suggestions to contend with. To help you impartially decide between several compelling ideas, use the RICE method.
You need to assign priorities in a product roadmap. A product roadmap outlines the direction and vision for your project line over time. Chances are, your product roadmap will feature a variety of ideas and suggestions. To narrow down your ideas and help your business grow as quickly as possible, use the RICE framework. Putting your ideas in the framework will show you what to prioritize.
Your team doesn’t agree. When your team is struggling to align or agree on new ideas, the RICE method is a simple way to get everyone together for a productive discussion.
You’re about to start a new project or launch a new product. Many teams find it useful to employ RICE at the beginning of each major project or when planning a new product launch. It helps them narrow down their ideas and focus on the most important aspects of the new project or product launch.
Who invented RICE prioritization?
The RICE model was invented by Intercom. Or, more specifically, Sean McBride co-developed the framework as a product manager at Intercom. Since its inception, it’s been widely used by businesses from a variety of industries.
How is the RICE score calculated?
Your score is calculated using the following RICE formula: Reach x Impact x Confidence / Effort. With this formula, businesses can figure out whether their ideas and initiatives are worth including in their roadmaps.
What is the RICE method for prioritization?
The RICE method for prioritization determines which of your ideas, concepts, or products to focus on. It’s split into four categories: reach, impact, confidence, and effort. You then use these categories to calculate the RICE score. Using this method, you effectively prioritize which ideas are right for your business. It helps you focus your efforts on initiatives that are more likely to help your business succeed.
Is a higher or lower RICE score better?
With the RICE scoring model, bigger is better. Why? Because the bigger the score, the more value you’ll get. Having a high RICE score indicates that you have a successful idea on your hands. It’ll likely require less effort and time than some of your other ideas, giving you some quick wins. A low RICE score implies the opposite. Your idea might not be as successful, and it might require more time and effort to bring it to life.
How do you prioritize a roadmap?
There are lots of ways to prioritize product roadmaps. When using RICE, you’ll use the existing framework as guidance. This means you’ll use the RICE scoring method to identify which ideas and concepts to prioritize in your roadmap.
Get started with this template right now.
3 Horizons of Growth Template
Works best for:
Leadership, Strategic Planning, Project Planning
Featured in The Alchemy of Growth, this model gives ambitious companies a way to balance the present and the future—in other words, what’s working in the existing business and what emerging, possibly-profitable growth opportunities lie ahead. Then teams across the organization can make sure that their projects map to and support the organization’s goals. The 3 Horizons of Growth model is also a powerful way to foster a culture of innovation—one that values and depends on experimentation and iteration—and to identify opportunities for new business.
Product Positioning Canvas
Works best for:
Product Management, Planning
The Product Positioning Canvas template aids product managers in defining and communicating product positioning strategies. By analyzing target markets, competitive landscapes, and unique value propositions, this template helps differentiate products in the market. With sections for defining brand attributes, messaging, and market segments, it enables teams to craft compelling positioning statements that resonate with target audiences. This template serves as a guide for aligning product positioning with business objectives and driving market success.
Project Charter Template
Works best for:
Project Management, Documentation, Strategic Planning
Project managers rely on project charters as a source of truth for the details of a project. Project charters explain the core objectives, scope, team members and more involved in a project. For an organized project management, charters can be useful to align everyone around a shared understanding of the objectives, strategies and deliverables for a project of any scope. This template ensures that you document all aspects of a project so all stakeholders are informed and on the same page. Always know where your project is going, its purpose, and its scope.
Lean Canvas Template
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Strategic Planning, Agile Workflows
Business opportunities can get dense, cumbersome, and complex, and evaluating them can be a real challenge. Let a lean canvas streamline things and break down your business idea for you and your team. A great tool or entrepreneurs and emerging businesses, this one-page business model gives you an easy, high-level view of your idea — so you can stay focused on overall strategy, identify potential threats and opportunities, and brainstorm the various factors at play in determining your potential profitability in an industry.
Product Reflection
Works best for:
Product Management, Planning
The Product Reflection template encourages teams to reflect on past experiences and lessons learned in product development journeys. By facilitating retrospective sessions, capturing insights, and identifying improvement opportunities, this template fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement. With sections for evaluating successes, challenges, and areas for growth, it enables teams to iterate on their processes and enhance future product development efforts. This template serves as a tool for fostering team collaboration and driving iterative product innovation.
SAFe Program Board
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Diagrams, Agile Workflows
Many organizations use the Agile model, but even companies that don’t rigorously adhere to all Agile standards have adopted Agile tools and methods like Program Increment (PI) Planning. Even if you’re not participating in a formal PI session, a program board can be a great way to establish communication across teams and stakeholders, align development objectives with business goals, clarify dependencies, and foster cross-functional collaboration. The board provides much-needed structure to planning sessions, yet is adaptable enough to accommodate brainstorming and alignment meetings.