Prioritising product features using RICE Framework

Use RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) framework to ensure you’re focusing on features with the highest value.

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

1️⃣ Reach

The number of users your feature will impact within a specific time period.

Question to ask: How many users/customers will this feature affect?

Measurement: Quantify it in terms of weekly active users, transactions, or other relevant metrics (e.g., “500 users per month”).

Example: A feature aimed at all new users during onboarding will likely have a higher reach than one for advanced users.

2️⃣ Impact

The degree to which the feature will affect the users it reaches.

Question to ask: How much will this feature improve UX or (and) help achieve the business goal?

Measurement: Measure on a scale from 0 to 3: 3 = highest impact, 1 = medium impact, 0.25 = minimal impact, 0 = no impact.

Example: An improvement that drastically increases conversion rates might score a “3,” while a minor UX tweak might score “0.5.”

3️⃣ Confidence

Your level of certainty that the reach and impact estimates are accurate.

Question to ask: How sure are you about the reach and impact projections?

Measurement: Measure on a scale: 100% = high confidence, 80% = medium confidence, 50% = low confidence

Example: A well-researched idea backed by user research has high confidence; an idea based on a pure assumption has low confidence.

4️⃣ Effort

The amount of work required to design, develop, and launch the feature.

Question: How many person-hours, days, or weeks will this take from the team?

Measurement: Typically measured in “person-months” (e.g., the total time for engineers, designers, and others).

Example: A small bug fix might take “0.5 person-months,” while a complex integration might require “5 person-months.”

📖 Example of calculating RICE score

Imagine you’re evaluating a feature:

Reach: 1,000 users/month

Impact: 2 (high impact)

Confidence: 80% (0.8)

Effort: 2 person-months

RICE Score = (1000 × 2 × 0.8) / 2 = 800

📕 Tips for using RICE

✔ Keep effort estimates granular by breaking down tasks: Break tasks into smaller parts and estimate each component.

✔ Account for overheads: Consider cross-team dependencies when evaluating features.

✔ Apply RICE to a small subset of ideas or features first to get comfortable with the framework before scaling it to your entire roadmap.