RACI
A framework that clarifies the roles of project stakeholders using the initials of Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.
RACI is a framework that clarifies the roles of the people involved in a project or task with 4 types of responsibility. It takes the initials of Responsible (responsibility for doing the work), Accountable (accountability for the outcome), Consulted (consultation), and Informed (being kept informed), and it is used as standard in the project management framework of PMI (Project Management Institute). When roles stay vague, “who decides” tends to be left up in the air, so you will especially want to sort it out in projects with many stakeholders.
Definitions of the 4 roles
An example RACI chart
Taking a website redesign project as an example, RACI is written as a table. For each task, each member’s role is assigned as R/A/C/I.
| Task | PM | Designer | Engineer | Marketing | Executive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defining requirements | A | C | C | C | I |
| Creating the design | A | R | C | C | I |
| Implementation | A | C | R | I | I |
| Release decision | C | I | C | C | A |
| Post-launch announcement | I | I | I | R | A |
Cautions when designing a RACI
Rules for a RACI that works
- Always limit A to one person (with several, it is unclear where responsibility lies)
- R can be several people, but too many spreads responsibility thin
- Do not leave anyone on the stakeholder map out of C and I
- Each task has at least one R and exactly one A
- Update the RACI chart as needed even after the initial agreement
Variants of RACI
There are also variants that build on the basic RACI. Choose among them, such as RASCI (adds Support) and DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributor, Informed), to fit your organizational culture. DACI is designed to make the person driving a decision (Driver) explicit and suits organizations that value decision speed.
Using it at the kickoff
You will want to create a first draft of the RACI chart at the kickoff meeting stage. If things proceed with roles left vague, exchanges like “whose responsibility is this?” tend to happen near the end. Identifying stakeholders and RACI are two sides of the same coin.