A complete guide to the ICE score

Product management can be a complex and often frustrating process, with differing priorities and goals competing for space. Whenever possible, product managers and leaders should incorporate prioritization strategies to make the process easier and help keep their teams aligned.

The ICE scoring model is a prioritization framework. It has gained traction in recent years due to its ease of use. Even teams with different abilities and approaches can incorporate the ICE prioritization framework into their projects to help move the needle and achieve goals more effectively.

The ICE prioritization framework is a prioritization strategy that helps you choose the right features for a product. You can use the ICE strategy to give a project three numerical values: impact, confidence, and ease.

• The impact score (I): this is the measurement of how much the project or idea will help the organization reach its overall goals.

• The confidence score (C): the confidence aspect of the ICE score represents your level of certainty in the scores you assign for impact and ease. Essentially, this requires your team to evaluate if the idea is any good.

• The ease score (E): the ease score evaluates how easy it is for your team to deliver on an idea.

Each item—impact, confidence, and ease—receives a ranking on a scale of 1–10. Calculate the item’s ICE score by multiplying these three numbers together.

If you’re working as part of a team, consider having everyone make an ICE score individually. You can then compare results. While this is optional and can make the process longer, it’s a good way to identify potential roadblocks and ensure everyone’s on the same page.

It’s always tricky to guess what the true impact and outcome of a product launch or rebrand will be. There are so many possibilities in flux at any given moment.

As a product leader or company stakeholder, you have to rely on some degree of projection when planning a new product.

The ICE prioritization framework helps calculate the best and most impactful ways to deliver on opportunities. By assigning numerical values to a set of criteria and comparing results, you and your team get actionable guidelines on how you can provide the most value to your company and the customers you serve.

The ICE scoring model has several benefits. The most obvious is that it’s much easier to use than other scoring models. It only requires three inputs: impact, confidence, and ease. This means your team can calculate an ICE score quickly. They can spend less time on lengthy calculations and formulas and more time developing a product customers are likely to use.

The model is also beneficial when you want to translate information for company stakeholders. It can provide comparison points and simple numbers that almost anyone can look at and immediately understand. This also makes the ICE framework a good choice if you work with a large team or with many different departments.

You can expect some challenges when using the ICE scoring model.

It’s easy to overestimate value and underestimate the effort involved, particularly if it’s a project you and your team are excited about. This means scores might not be accurate. You shouldn’t rely on them as concrete evidence of how a product or feature will perform in any given market.

Rely on market research and hard data to provide this information instead. Consider incorporating ICE scoring as part of the product management process rather than to affect large-scale product decisions.

Some critics point out that ICE scoring isn’t customer-centric, as it doesn’t include any direct customer data in the process. However, you can involve customer feedback in ICE scoring by using customer surveys or incorporating features your users have directly suggested.

Let’s compare the ICE scoring framework with the RICE scoring model. While both measure confidence and overall value, the RICE method also measures reach. The reach score outlines approximately how many customers might use a specific product or feature.

Some product managers like to include this metric as they believe it provides a more balanced overall view of the product or feature. Proponents of ICE scoring, on the other hand, prefer the framework’s simplicity and ease of use.

Overall, ICE and RICE are so similar that it’s difficult to pinpoint anything that makes one better than the other.

Prioritization strategies can be really useful in product management. You can use the ICE framework to prioritize suggested features and new ideas or items in your backlog. You can also use it to outline strategies for growth experiments.

The ICE framework can be especially helpful if you are working with a handful of disparate ideas and initiatives and don’t have a solid idea of where to start. Apply the framework to your jumble of ideas to give your team quick, actionable answers.

Ultimately, the product manager is the bridge between the idea and the delivery. The ICE framework is an excellent starting point, but it requires an experienced leader’s input and some talented team members to get the actual ideas to the finish line.

Implementing the ICE framework requires some consideration and planning. Here are some best practices you can follow:

Gather relevant metrics and data

Gather relevant metrics and data before figuring out and outlining your ICE scores.

Use concrete data whenever possible. This will increase the accuracy of your estimates.

Having all the information at hand will make it easy to work out the scores for the criteria.

Collaborative evaluation

Involve all your project stakeholders in the ICE scoring process. This enhances transparency and reduces the likelihood that there are any questions or concerns further down the line in the product’s development.

Along with stakeholders, involve your team. Even if you decide not to have every member of your team come up with their own ICE score, it can be helpful to get wider input.

Recognize limitations

Don’t be tempted to use ICE scores as measures of whether a feature is “good” or “bad.” ICE scores are arbitrary. While they can be immensely useful in determining what features should receive priority and how to embark on a project plan, they are subjective.

The ICE scoring model is a practical way to evaluate and prioritize ideas based on their impact, confidence, and ease. By giving each idea a score in these areas, your team can quickly spot high-potential opportunities and make smart decisions.

Involve a lightweight prioritization framework such as ICE scoring in your product development projects. This will help ensure the strongest and most beneficial features make their way into your product.