RACI Chart: Define Your Team Roles

The RACI chart is a project management tool designed to help teams avoid common pitfalls:

Lack of clear roles and responsibilities
Decision paralysis (too many people making the decision)
Too much work falling on one or two team members

This article will discuss what RACI charts are, how they can improve project success, and more. Let’s not waste any time.

What Is A RACI Chart?

What is a RACI chart? RACI is an acronym that stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. A RACI chart is a diagram that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities for a project. A RACI chart can also be referred to as a RACI model or a Responsibility Assignment Matrix. RACI charts can be used for the whole scope of a project, from delegating roles for project tasks to signing off on deliverables.

The purpose of RACI charts is to reduce confusion and balance the workload within a project by clarifying who is responsible for what. RACI chart project management improves efficiency because it ensures multiple people are not working on the same task. It also ensures there are not too many people making decisions – since this usually means the decisions don’t get made.

RACI charts make it easier to collaborate, especially on complex projects. It helps teams incorporate the skills and expertise of multiple people, without too much overlap or delay. RACI charts also make it easier to change roles in projects with multiple phases.

RACI Chart Definitions

The four letters in the acronym each correspond to a role. Here are the RACI chart definitions for each role:

Responsible

This is the person who completes the task. Ideally, there should only be one person carrying out a task, to avoid a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario. The other collaborators should fall within the other three roles.

Accountable

This is the decision-maker. This person is responsible for delegating the work and making sure it gets completed. The accountable person will also be the last one to sign off on a project before it’s delivered. Oftentimes, this role goes to the project manager, but it could also be the “responsible” person if that person is able to have two tasks. Similarly to the responsible role, there should only be one person assigned.

Consulted

This team member uses subject knowledge to suggest any changes or improvements based on his or her area of expertise. The consulted person will help provide a bigger picture. Unlike the responsible and accountable roles, it is often helpful for more than one person to be consulted on a project.

Informed

This is everyone on a need-to-know basis. This includes everyone who needs to be updated on the project’s development and completion. They don’t need to be involved in every detail; they just need an update on the overall progress.

RACI Chart Example

Roles vary depending on the type of project, but a few common roles that might be included in a RACI chart are:

Project Manager
Project Executive
Web or Software Developer
Graphic designer
Copywriter,
Business Analyst
Marketing Specialist

To give a RACI chart example, let’s say a company wants to launch an email marketing campaign. The roles for this project would include: copywriter, graphic designer, marketing specialist, and project manager.

There are several tasks that would fall under this project including writing the email copy, designing the emails, and scheduling the campaign. For each task, the RACI roles should be assigned to a team member.

Example:

Task: Write email copy
Responsible: Copywriter
Accountable: Project Manager
Consulted: Marketing Specialist
Informed: Designer

Task: Design emails
Responsible: Graphic Designer
Accountable: Project Manager
Consulted: Marketing Specialist
Informed: Copywriter

Task: Schedule campaign
Responsible: Marketing Specialist
Accountable: Project Manager
Consulted: Copywriter
Informed: Designer

Task: Track and analyze campaign results
Responsible: Marketing Specialist
Accountable: Marketing Specialist
Consulted: Project Manager
Informed: Designer and Copywriter

RACI Chart Template

If you like many, you don’t want to re-create the wheel, and you’d like a RACI Chart Template that you can quickly download and complete with your own information. Great minds think alike! Look no further, here is a multi-phased version we created for an Medium sized company with the following roles:

VP
Director
Manager
Project Manager
SME Web
Web Developer
Copywriter
Consultant 1
Consultant 2

Download an Excel version of this RACI Chart here.

You can find a second version here. (3rd party)

A few tips for filling out the template:

More often than not, it’s helpful to use team member names instead of roles to clearly define responsibilities.
In most cases, there should be one responsible and one accountable per task. Multiple people working on the same task or making decisions will reduce efficiency.
The RACI chart should help balance the workload, so no team member should be assigned as “responsible” for too many tasks.
There should be no cells left blank in the RACI template because every team member should have a role, even if it’s just to be informed.
Make sure if somebody is “Responsible” for a task, they also have the authority to carry it out.

Conclusion

RACI charts are a helpful project management tool for delegating the tasks within a project and making sure team members are held accountable for those tasks. When used correctly, a RACI chart can balance project workload, decrease confusion, and increase team efficiency. Use our RACI chart example and the template provided to define your team roles and ace your next project!