What is RICE and how do you calculate it?

RICE is a prioritization method for tasks or features that helps evaluate their value and decide what to do first. The abbreviation stands for:

• Reach — how many users or customers will be affected by the task over a certain period.
• Impact — how strongly the task will influence the user or business (usually rated on a scale, e.g., 0.25 to 3).
• Confidence — how sure you are about the Reach and Impact estimates (in percentage).
• Effort — how many person-months or person-days are needed to complete the task.

Priority calculation formula:

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

Higher results indicate higher priority.

Example:

Reach = 1000 users
Impact = 2 (strong influence)
Confidence = 80% (0.8)
Effort = 5 person-days

RICE = (1000 × 2 × 0.8) / 5 = 320

Tasks with higher RICE scores should be prioritized.