ICE score calculator
An ICE score multiplies impact, confidence and ease — each scored from 1 to 10 — to give a number out of 1,000. It is the fastest prioritisation framework there is, because every input is a judgement rather than a measurement.
ICE score, step by step
Impact is how much the change moves the thing you currently care about. Confidence is how sure you are of that impact. Ease is how easy it is to do, where 10 is trivial and 1 is months of work — note that higher is easier, which is the opposite of RICE’s effort and the commonest mistake people make with ICE.
Because all three are on the same 1–10 scale, the maximum is 1,000 and the arithmetic is quick enough to score fifty ideas in half an hour. That speed is the entire point: ICE exists for the list that is too long to research item by item.
Where this number misleads you
Ease is a feeling about difficulty, not an estimate, so ICE scores cannot be added up or used to plan what fits in a release. If someone asks "can we do the top five?", ICE cannot answer — that question needs effort in person-days, which means RICE or a capacity plan.
Questions people ask
What is a good ICE score?
Out of a maximum of 1,000, anything above 500 is usually worth a serious look and anything below 200 is below the line. But the bands only hold within one person’s scoring session: ICE is a quick sort, so use it to find the top of your own list rather than as a grade you report upwards.
Is higher ease better in ICE?
Yes. Ease is scored so that 10 is trivial and 1 is very hard, and it is multiplied rather than divided. This is the opposite of RICE, where effort is divided, so a high number is bad. Mixing the two conventions up inverts your whole ranking without anything looking wrong.
When should I use ICE instead of RICE?
Use ICE when the list is long, the stakes per item are low, and you need an order today — a backlog triage, an idea dump after a workshop. Use RICE when you will have to defend the order to someone who disagrees, because RICE forces you to name a real number of affected users.
Calculators people use next
When one number is not the job
This page works out one number. PikoPM’s Prioritisation scores your whole backlog at once, from a paste or a Jira board, and writes the argument for the order.
Open Prioritisation — it needs an account, and the Free plan covers it.