RICE prioritization for product ideas
RICE lets you compare ideas and problems on one scale and calmly decide what to do first. In 2Sync you do not need to calculate anything: fill in four fields and the record takes its place in the list.
What RICE is
The score is made of four factors:
Reach — how many people will notice the change in a quarter.
Impact — how strongly it affects each of them: 3 — massive, 2 — high, 1 — medium, 0.5 — low, 0.25 — minimal.
Confidence — how sure you are about your numbers: 100%, 80% or 50%.
Effort — how many person-weeks the work takes.
Formula: RICE = Reach × Impact × Confidence / Effort. The bigger the number, the higher the priority.
How to score a record
Open an idea or a problem.
In the RICE box on the right enter Reach and Effort as numbers and pick Impact and Confidence from the lists.
The score appears once all four fields are filled and updates with every change.
Example: mood-based book collections will be seen by 4,000 shoppers a quarter, the impact is high (2), confidence 80%, the work takes 3 weeks. RICE = 4000 × 2 × 0.8 / 3 ≈ 2133.
See the backlog by priority
On the board switch Order in columns to By RICE: the records with the highest score rise to the top of each column. Records without a score go to the bottom, so you see at once what is not scored yet.
In Table click the RICE column header to sort all records of the project by score.
Tips
Measure Reach in the same units across the project, for example users per quarter.
Do not set 100% confidence without data. If the numbers are a guess, pick 50%.
Count the whole team in Effort: design, development, testing.
Revisit scores when new feedback comes in. The number of customers who asked for an idea is shown on its page under Who asks.
Frequently asked questions
Can tasks be scored?
No, RICE is for ideas and problems. A task is work already decided; its priority is set by its place on the board and its due date.
Do I have to follow the score?
No. RICE is a hint, not an order. The "Manual" order on the board always stays under your control.