Prioritization Frameworks (RICE, MoSCoW)

What it is

Prioritization frameworks give a repeatable, defensible way to rank competing feature requests instead of deciding by whoever asked most recently or loudest.

Key points

• RICE: scores each item by Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort — forces explicit estimates instead of gut-feel ranking, and the Effort denominator keeps cheap wins from being buried by big, low-confidence bets.
• MoSCoW: sorts items into Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have — simpler than RICE, useful for scoping a single release rather than a whole roadmap.
• Opportunity cost is the real question every framework is approximating — every "yes" to one feature is implicitly a "not now" to everything else the team could have built instead.
• No framework replaces judgment — they structure the conversation and surface disagreement, not eliminate the need for a decision.