Project Management: Foundations to Practice · Resource and Team Management
RACI and Role Clarity
A RACI matrix's real value shows up on cross-functional projects with no natural hierarchy. This chapter covers the discipline and the single most common mistake teams make building one.
A RACI matrix clarifies roles and responsibilities across a project by categorizing each person's involvement in a given task or deliverable as Responsible, the person who does the work; Accountable, the person ultimately answerable for it, of whom there should be exactly one per task; Consulted, someone whose input is sought before a decision; or Informed, someone kept updated after a decision is made [1].
Key Takeaways
- RACI categorizes involvement as Responsible (does the work), Accountable (answerable, exactly one per task), Consulted, or Informed.
- Assigning multiple people as Accountable for the same task diffuses ownership; it should map to exactly one name per row.
- Responsible and Accountable are distinct: a project manager is often Accountable for work others are Responsible for producing.
- RACI adds the most value on cross-functional projects with no natural hierarchy to informally resolve role ambiguity.