ICE
Category: Marketing
What is ICE Impact Cost Effectiveness?
ICE Impact Cost Effectiveness is a prioritization method that helps organizations evaluate and classify projects, features or initiatives based on three key factors: Impact (impact), Confidence (confidence) and Ease (ease).
This approach is particularly popular in product management, software development and strategic planning, as it provides a fast and effective way to compare different options and make informed decisions.
The three components of ICE
I Impact
How much impact will this project have on business goals? This may include:
- Increase in revenue
- Improve user experience
- Reduce costs
- Improve competitive advantage
- Increase customer satisfaction
C Confidence
How confident are we that we will achieve the desired impact? Factors influencing confidence:
- Presence of data and research
- Previous experience with similar projects
- Clarity of requirements
- Support from interested parties
- Technical feasibility
EEffectiveness
How easy will it be to implement this project? This includes:
- Required time for implementation
- Required resources
- Complexity of implementation
- Required skills and knowledge
- Potential risks and obstacles
Evaluation system: Scale from 1 to 10
1-3 Low
Minimum impact/confidence/ease
4-6 Medium
Moderate impact/confidence/ease
7-8 High
Significant impact/confidence/ease
9-10 Very high
Extreme impact/confidence/ease
ICE formula:
ICE Score = Impact × Confidence × Ease
The result varies between 1 and 1000
ICE prioritization matrix
- High priority: ICE: 500-1000
- High priority: ICE: 400-700
- Medium priority: ICE: 200-400
- Low priority: ICE: 100-200
- Very low priority: ICE: 1-50
Application process
- 1
: Identify projects/initiatives
Create a list of all potential projects, features or initiatives that are considered for implementation.
- 2
: Evaluate each component
Assign a rating of 1 to 10 for Impact, Confidence and Ease. Base your ratings on data and discussions with the team.
- 3
: Calculate the ICE result
Multiply the three ratings to get the total ICE result: ICE = Impact × Confidence × Ease
- 4
: Sort and prioritize
Sort the projects by ICE result in descending order. Projects with the highest results receive the highest priority.
- 5
: Make decisions
Use the results to make informed decisions about which projects to implement first.
Practical example: Prioritization of software functions
Function A: Integration with social networks
Impact: 8/10 - Significant improvement in user experience
Confidence: 7/10 - We have data from similar integrations
Ease: 6/10 - Requires moderate effort
Function B: Improved search
Impact: 9/10 - Critical for user experience
Confidence: 8/10 - Clear requirements and high confidence
Ease: 4/10 - Complex technical implementation
Function C: Timed mode
Impact: 6/10 - Popular function, but not critical
Confidence: 9/10 - Very clear implementation
Ease: 8/10 - Easy to implement
Conclusion: Although Function B has the highest impact, Function C has the highest ICE result due to high confidence and ease of implementation.
Advantages of the ICE method
- Speed and simplicity: The method is easy to understand and apply
- Quantitative approach: Converts subjective ratings into numerical results
- Transparency: Clearly shows how decisions are made for prioritization
- Flexibility: Can be adapted to different types of projects and organizations
- Objectivity: Reduces the influence of personal biases in the decision-making process
- Collaboration: Facilitates discussions and achieving consensus in the team
Limitations and precautions
- Subjective ratings: Ratings still rely on human assessments
- Potential for manipulation: Participants can influence the ratings to direct the results
- Ignoring relationships: Does not consider how projects can affect each other
- Static approach: Ratings can change over time, but the method does not capture the dynamics
- Not all factors: Can miss important business considerations such as strategic alignment
Recommendations for successful application:
- Include multiple interested parties in the evaluation process
- Document the assumptions behind each rating
- Regular reviews and updates of the ratings
- Use ICE as one of several tools for decision-making
- Combine with other methods such as Cost of Delay or Value vs Effort matrices
Comparison with other prioritization methods
| Method | Focus | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICE matrix | Impact, Confidence, Ease | Fast, easy, quantitative | Subjective ratings, do not consider all factors |
| Value vs Effort | Value and effort | Intuitive, visual | Does not consider risk and confidence |
| RICE | Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort | More comprehensive, considers reach | More complex to calculate |
| Cost of Delay | Economic consequences of delay | Focused on time-based aspects | Complex to calculate, requires financial data |
| MoSCoW | Must, Should, Could, Won't | Easy to understand, categorical | Does not provide numerical ratings for comparison |