Five numbered steps to rank your backlog with ICE. Formula and 1-10 scoring rubrics included.
Last updated: June 2026
Columns for Impact, Confidence, and Ease on 1-10 scales with three worked examples and live ICE score formulas in the sheet. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers with the score formulas already wired up. No email required.
ICE is built for speed, so score a fixed batch in one short session. Sprint planning and growth experiment reviews are the usual moments.
Formula
Candidate list = one batch of clearly named initiatives, scored in one sittingPro tip: Time-box the first pass if useful. Mark uncertain estimates for follow-up rather than forcing agreement.
Impact is how much the item moves your goal metric if it works. Score it 1-10 against a shared rubric, not gut feel alone.
Formula
Impact = 1-10 score for how much this moves the needlePro tip: If scores cluster, check whether the items are similar or the rating definitions need clarification. Do not spread scores just to create a ranking.
Confidence is how sure you are that the Impact score is real. It is the honesty check that stops gut feelings from topping the list.
Formula
Confidence = 1-10 score for evidence quality behind the Impact estimatePro tip: Ask what evidence supports each Confidence score, and record it alongside the rating.
Ease is how little work the item takes to ship. Note the direction: a HIGH Ease score means LOW effort. 10 is a same-day change, 1 is months of complex work.
Formula
Ease = 1-10 score, where 10 = minimal work and 1 = months of effortPro tip: Overestimating Ease raises the ICE score. Compare estimates with completed work and include design, testing, and release effort.
Multiply the three scores together. The result ranges from 1 to 1,000, and the ranking within your batch is what matters, not the absolute number.
Formula
ICE Score = Impact x Confidence x EasePro tip: The score is an input to the conversation, not the decision. If the ranking surprises you, check whether the scores are wrong or your intuition is. Either answer is useful.
Enter Impact, Confidence, and Ease in the free ICE calculator to calculate scores and rank your backlog.
Open Free ICE CalculatorICE is associated with Sean Ellis’s growth experimentation work. This guide and PM Toolkit use the product of three 1-10 ratings: Impact, Confidence, and Ease.
RICE adds a fourth factor, Reach, which quantifies how many users an initiative affects, and it divides by Effort instead of multiplying by Ease. ICE drops Reach entirely and uses simple 1-10 scales for all three inputs. The trade is precision for speed: RICE rewards careful estimation, ICE rewards fast consensus. Many teams use ICE for experiments and switch to RICE for formal roadmap planning.
There is no universal good ICE score. Compare items scored with the same definitions and evidence standards. On three 1-10 scales, the maximum is 1,000; a higher score reflects the entered assumptions, not a validated outcome.
Direction. Ease scores high when the work is small: a 10 means you can ship today, a 1 means months of complexity. Effort, the E in RICE, works the opposite way and sits in the denominator: more person-months means a lower score. Both punish big projects, but mixing up the direction when scoring is a common mistake. In ICE, easy items get high numbers.
Use ICE when you don't have reach data or don't have time to gather it: early-stage products with few users, internal tools without user counts, growth experiment backlogs with 50+ ideas, or sprint planning sessions where you need a ranked list in 15 minutes. Once you have real user data and the stakes justify the extra estimation work, RICE gives you a more defensible ranking.