The ICE Scoring Model: A Prioritization Strategy For Success

Have you ever felt overwhelmed because there are too many projects or opportunities and you’re not sure which one to focus on?

You end up spending more time analyzing and deciding which to focus on than actually doing them.

Analysis paralysis is a thing.

My favorite tool for prioritizing and making faster, better decisions is the ICE Scoring Model.

We use this prioritization strategy with all our clients:

• We audit their business

• Create a list of issues and opportunities

• Use ICE Scoring to decide which will have the biggest impact

• Create a Gantt chart roadmap with clear timelines and objectives

Then get the team aligned and move right into execution.

Fast, easy, and repeatable.

The problem most entrepreneurs face is not a lack of ideas, it’s knowing which ones to invest their time and resources on that will yield the best results.

That’s where the ICE Scoring Model comes in.

It’s a framework originally created by Sean Ellis, for product management teams to prioritize which features to roll out.

But I find it to be a useful framework for prioritizing any initiative or opportunities. And it can also be used in all other areas of your life too:

• Prioritizing personal opportunities

• Prioritizing initiatives in your relationship

• Prioritizing investment opportunities

Let’s dive in and explore how the ICE Scoring Model works.

How the ICE Scoring Model works

ICE stands for:

• Impact

• Confidence

• Ease

Each component is given a score between 1-10, with all three numbers multiplied for your final ICE Score.

ICE Score = (Impact x Confidence x Ease)

You then prioritize your list of initiatives and opportunities based on the highest ICE scores.

Impact

Impact is the potential benefit this initiative will have on the business.

How impactful will the success of this initiative be?

How much will this move the needle on reaching your overall goals and objectives?

• 1 - Low impact

• 2-5 - Minimal impact

• 6-8 - High impact

• 9-10 - Significant impact

It’s important to know what your goals and strategic objectives are first. Then scoring the initiatives and projects based on their impact on those goals.

The more you can use objective measures to estimate impact scores, the better.

Confidence

Confidence is the level of certainty that the project will actually have the predicted impact.

How confident are you that this initiative will be successful? How risky is it to invest time and energy into this?

• 1 - Low confidence

• 2-5 - Minimal confidence

• 6-8 - High confidence

• 9-10 - Significant confidence

Note what the risk factors are for each initiative and if you have the resources to mitigate the risks.

Ease

Ease is the level of effort, complexity, or resources required to implement the initiative.

How easy will it be to do this initiative?

How much effort and resources are required?

How many people on the team are needed and how much of their capacity is required to complete this?

• 1 - Low ease

• 2-5 - Minimal ease

• 6-8 - High ease

• 9-10 - Significant ease

Take into account the team’s capacity and capabilities as well as how much resources are available.

RICE Scoring

A fourth score can be used for marketing or growth initiatives that impact customer and audience reach.

Reach

While Impact refers to the potential benefit to business goals and objectives.

Reach refers to the potential benefit to your customer and audience.

This can help prioritize some projects that may have a lower impact on revenue but have a higher impact on growing your audience, benefiting the business in the long term.

How To Use ICE Scoring

Putting this into action now, here’s the step-by-step process.

You can create your own spreadsheet or take this template.

1. Identify the list of initiatives and opportunities

2. Score each one on Impact, Confidence, and Ease

3. Calculate the total ICE Score

4. Review the scores with your team

5. Sort and prioritize

6. Create a roadmap and projected timeline

7. Create a project plan for the first initiative and get going

If you have a bigger team with defined departments, you can have each team do their own ICE Scoring for their department’s initiatives.

Tips To Consider

Some key things to note:

• Scoring can be subjective and therefore inaccurate. The more you can use objective measures to estimate scores, the better.

• Multiple people scoring can yield different scores. If there are conflicting subjective scores, use that as an opportunity to dive deeper and explore blindspots and unknowns. Come to the closest score that key stakeholders can all agree to.

• ICE scores are a rating for prioritization, not an evaluation of the significance of a project. Remind the team to not create a meaning of a score on their projects.

• This framework may not work for every department and every team. Always test and evaluate what will work best for your team.

There you go, the ICE Scoring Model for prioritizing initiatives and opportunities.

Thanks for reading and hope you found this helpful.

If you use this framework with your team, I’d love to hear how it goes for you and your team.

Your Pal,

Colin

P.S. Whenever you’re ready…

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