Slow delivery does not always mean the team needs a different codebase. In this lesson, Carlos Sanabria examines the process around the work: planning, ownership, bottlenecks and the method used to decide what deserves attention.
He then introduces a scoring exercise built from reach, impact, confidence and effort. The useful outcome is a clearer discussion of trade-offs, not a number that removes the need for judgment.
What you'll learn.
- Compare the work promised with the work actually delivered.
- Make ownership and bottlenecks visible.
- Include confidence and ongoing costs when evaluating competing ideas.
Compare the plan with delivery.
Start with what the team expected to complete and what reached users. Investigate the gap rather than assuming it proves a particular technical problem. Unclear requirements, changing priorities and process delays can all deserve attention.
Carlos also emphasizes ownership. Know who is responsible for a feature, a decision or a part of the system. When responsibility is unclear, a problem can move between people without receiving a decision.
Understand the four scoring inputs.
RICE considers reach, impact, confidence and effort. Reach estimates how many people an initiative affects. Impact estimates the effect on the outcome you care about. Confidence reflects the strength of the evidence behind those estimates. Effort represents the work required.
The recording illustrates impact through a digital wallet: an action central to completing a transfer contributes differently from an interface element that only supports navigation. Use a consistent scale and a defined outcome so the scores can be compared meaningfully.
Use the score to support a decision.
The calculation multiplies reach, impact and confidence, then divides by effort. Keep the confidence format and effort unit consistent across the items being compared. An idea with uncertain reach or impact should not look as well supported as one backed by stronger evidence.
Review the inputs as a team and record the assumptions. A score can reveal where additional research would change the decision, but it cannot establish that the estimates are true. Revisit the ranking as customer evidence and delivery information improve.
Make delivery and prioritization visible before deciding what to change. Clear ownership, realistic cost estimates and explicit assumptions give the team a stronger basis for choosing the next piece of work.
