I’ve previously explained the RICE and ICE techniques for prioritisation. Both techniques are frameworks used to evaluate and rank projects or tasks based on their potential impact, feasibility, and difficulty. However, I wanted to highlight the two key differences between them to help you chose the right tool for your project.

The ICE technique (Impact, Confidence, Ease) assigns scores to each project based on the potential impact of the project, the level of confidence in its success, and the ease of implementing it. The scores for each factor are multiplied to get a final score, which is used to rank the projects in order of priority.

The RICE technique (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) takes a similar approach, but adds an additional factor: Reach. Reach refers to the number of people or customers who would benefit from the project. Each project is assigned a score out of 10 for each factor, with the scores for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort multiplied to get a final score.

The main difference, therefore, between the two techniques is the inclusion of Reach which makes the technique particularly useful for marketing campaigns or projects aimed at customer acquisition i.e. where the breadth of impact is important.

Another difference is that the RICE technique places more emphasis on effort, which refers to the level of resources or time required to implement the project. This can help teams to prioritise projects that are feasible to implement given the available resources.

Technique	Factors	Calculation	Purpose
RICE	Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort	(Reach x Impact x Confidence) / Effort	Projects with potential to reach a large audience or that require significant resources to implement
ICE	Impact, Confidence, Ease	Impact x Confidence x Ease	Smaller projects or tasks that can be implemented more easily

I hope this helps!