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To meet the various challenges of project management, the responsibility matrix, also called the RACI chart, is proving to be an indispensable governance tool for companies.
The success of your projects depends on good management and a clear vision of the responsibilities of the people assigned. Each manager, and especially the project manager, should define an overview of the roles in order to optimise the distribution of tasks to the team members and avoid wasting time.
How to implement it and effectively extend its possibilities in an agile model?
This method is an organisational design tool that maps activities and defines the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders by:
What does RACI stand for?
This organisational matrix is used in the form of a resource allocation table, which indicates the distribution of functions and responsibilities among the different actors in a project using the letters R, A, C, and I:
💡In some specific cases, the letters V and S can be added to the RACI model, each designating respectively:
This method avoids any project governance problems, such as role redundancy and dilution of responsibilities. It enables a correct and thorough completion of the project.
All the tasks and their assignments are identified, as well as the need for intervention and information at each stage of the process for good steering of the objectives.
This overall vision also allows:
Boss | Project Manager | Art Director | Developers | Trainees | |
Task 1 | A | R | C | I | I |
Task 2 | A | R | I | C | I |
Task 3 | A/R | A | C/I | A | I |
Task 4 | A/R | A | I | A | I |
Before seeing in detail how to build and fill out a RACI table, we invite you to download our RACI matrix template so that you can fill it out:
Excel Model for RACI matrix
Free template to downloadTo build a RACI matrix, it is, therefore, necessary to list:
At each intersection of the tool, one or more letters of the RACI system are then assigned, each designating a specific role.
Think about who is involved. This underscores the first decision in creating a RACI: do you list roles or specific people? As a general rule, you should put the functional positions at the top of the list.
Work breakdown structure is very important. Review the project and divide it into clear tasks and deliverables. Record them in the left-hand column of your diagram. It doesn't have to be 100% order, but you should let participants clarify the order of tasks. This has two advantages:
At the end of this phase, the order of the tasks in the process is correct, the list is complete and without redundancies.
To make it easier, ask yourself the following questions:
Each task or deliverable should have one person responsible and one person in charge.
Make sure there is only one role or name assigned to the responsible person - this is really important. Think carefully about who should be consulted while the task is in progress and who should be informed when the task is complete.
Make sure that everyone understands their tasks and roles!
This is important - align all the assumptions you have made with your team, don't do it alone. Get the community together! If you haven't gone over roles with your project team, have a quick chat about how you set up the RACI. Make sure everyone is comfortable with their roles and responsibilities in the project.
One of the most important things is to agree on the RACI matrix that you have created with project stakeholders before starting.
When you implement a task or deliverable, refer back to the RACI and make sure you know who is responsible for what.
Make sure that what was established at the beginning of a project, the roles, and responsibilities towards tasks, are still correct. A good way to do this is to provide a version online, using Google Docs or a project management tool like monday.com.