Lesson 4: Decide what's worth building

A feature is a specific capability you build to address a theme. Prioritization is deciding which one comes next when you can't build everything, and solo, you can build almost nothing at once. Choosing wrong for a month costs a month you don't get back.

The two cheap tools

Effort / Impact. Size the cost (xs–xl) against the value. The 2×2 has a quadrant with your name on it: high impact, low effort. Live there as long as the market lets you.

RICE. When gut-ranking stalls, score it:

RICE = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) ÷ Effort

• Reach: how many users does this touch per quarter?
• Impact: how much does it move each of them? (3 = massive, 1 = medium, 0.25 = minimal)
• Confidence: how sure are you about the above? (100% / 80% / 50%)
• Effort: person-weeks. For you, calendar-weeks.

The score isn't the point. The point is that scoring forces you to say reach and confidence out loud, which is exactly where shiny ideas die.

Do it now

On Features:

1. Create a feature from your Lesson 3 theme and link the theme.
2. Set priority and effort honestly (hover the ⓘ on either column if the scale is fuzzy).
3. Open the AI overlay (⌘. / Ctrl+.) and ask How do I prioritize? (it's a suggested prompt when Learning Mode is on): the Copilot ranks your real list by priority, effort and RICE and explains itself. Disagree where you disagree, the model ranks; you decide.