I thought I would briefly revisit roles and responsibilities and the RACI matrix today. In projects and processes, sometimes there may be questions or confusion about who is responsible for what. If work is not getting done and people are pointing fingers at each other, you definitely know that there is lack of clarity about responsibilities.
The tool most often used to help clarify responsibilities is the RACI matrix (or its variant the RASCI matrix). Down the left side of the matrix are activities, tasks, major decisions, or deliverables. (If used for deliverables, it would be lower-level deliverables that one or a few people would be responsible for, such as documents.) Across the top are the roles, such as Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Business Analyst, and so on. In the cells of the matrix are the codes for level of responsibility or involvement. The level of responsibility of the indicated role for the particular activity can be:
- R – Responsible for doing the activity or making the decision.
- A – Accountable for approving the action or decision and answerable for its result.
- AR – Both responsible and accountable.
- (S) – Supportive by providing resources or other support that helps an activity get done or a decision get made.
- C – Consulted before the final action is taken or decision is made. Input from the role is required.
- I – Informed after the action is taken or decision is made.
- Blank – None of the above – i.e., no responsibility or involvement.
Note that the above use of “accountable” is not the same as “being accountable”, in other words, for being accountable to do something as agreed to or planned. On a project team, you want to collectively develop a project plan and have all team members be clear about activities assigned to them and also be personally accountable for doing them, on schedule if possible. As I’ve said before, that is best done if the team members are committed to the plan — i.e., having expressed their commitment to the project manager or, better, to the team as a whole.
So the multiple meanings of “accountable” is one minor annoyance I have had with RACI in the past, and that must be “taken into account”. :>) But if you want to clarify responsibilities – about who prepares a particular document and who approves it – a RACI matrix can definitely help.
Project success tip: The RACI Matrix is a tool that is helpful in clarifying responsibilities assigned to the different roles on project teams.