The RACI Matrix

The Responsible-Accountable-Consulted-Informed (RACI) matrix is another useful and widely used communication means. A good one clearly and concisely shows which person or organization has a stake (and which one) in specific tasks.

This helps to clarify who is supposed to do what. It also makes sure everyone clearly now what is expected of them.

Let’s say your organization decided to buy a CRM product. Assume that the CRM product has not bee used by anyone in the organization. Finally, suppose that your organization’s IT department never installed this product before and thus requires support. This is what a RACI for that particular project could look like then:

A good RACI gives a quick overview of the people or parties Responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each of the tasks at hand.

The RACI is the result of an analysis of the work packages and the people or organizations involved.

Avoid going into too much detail (certainly not for a first version). Meaning that you should keep the tasks high-level. Otherwise, creating and maintaining the matrix becomes a tedious task, and the RACI will no longer be concise nor clear.

One responsible only

Make sure that you always have one (and only one) responsible for each task. The logic behind is simple: if you have no one party in charge of completing the task, then it will not get done; if you have several neither because each responsible party will just think that the other responsible(s) will take it upon them to do it.

The same goes for accountability: have only one accountable party per task.

You can have several parties that require to be kept informed, or that may need to be consulted, though.

Variations

Like there are several PESTEL variations, the RACI matrix also has some: RASCI, PARIS, DACI, RAPID…