RICE Scoring Method

Welcome to the second part of our three-part series of articles on productivity methods. Today we are looking at the RICE scoring method, an effective technique for evaluating projects and ideas.

What is the RICE scoring method?

RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort. This method helps to evaluate and prioritize projects and tasks based on quantitative criteria.

The Components in Detail

Reach: How many people will be affected by this task or project?

Impact: What impact will this task or project have on the people affected? This is usually rated on a scale of 1 to 5.

Confidence: How confident are you that the estimated scope and impact are accurate? This is expressed as a percentage.

Effort: How much time and resources will be required to complete the task or project? The effort is estimated in person days.

Calculation of the RICE score

The RICE score is calculated by multiplying the values for reach, impact and confidence and then dividing by the effort. This formula helps to determine the relative value of each activity.

Integration in Merlin Project

RICE Scoring can be integrated in many places in Merlin Project. Here are just a few initial inspirations:

• Reach: Add resources to activities to show that they (1) are needed to accomplish the task or (2) are directly or indirectly affected by the decision and therefore may need to be kept up to date.

• Impact & Confidence: Use the risk analysis for this. You can attach risks to activities or milestones. Here, as in the "Status" tab, you can now assess how high the impact is and in the Probability (Confidence) input field you can measure the probability of occurrence.

• Effort: Use the Gantt chart to estimate the effort. To do this, enter the estimated work or duration in the inspector for "Activity: Plan" and link your activities logically. Merlin Project dynamically creates the Gantt chart based on your entries.

Conclusion

The RICE scoring method offers a structured and quantitative approach to prioritizing projects. With Merlin Project, you can seamlessly integrate this method and manage your projects more effectively.

In the last part of our series, we look at the Kano model.