Your guide to RACI charts, with examples

Can you identify exactly who’s doing what by when for each task, milestone, and deliverable in your project? If not, you might need a RACI chart.

RACI is an acronym to help teams clarify project roles and figure out who the responsible party is for any given task. Whether you've never heard of RACI before or you’re considering creating a RACI chart for your next project, here’s everything you need to know about how to create and use these charts.

What is a RACI chart?

A RACI chart (sometimes called a Responsibility Assignment Matrix) is a way to identify your project teams’ roles and responsibilities for any task, milestone, or project deliverable. By following the RACI acronym, you can clarify responsibility and reduce confusion. RACI stands for:

Responsible

This person is directly in charge of the work. There should only ever be one Responsible role per task so you know who to go to with questions or updates. If a task has more than one Responsible person, you can lose clarity and cause confusion. Instead, aim to add additional collaborators as some of the other RACI roles, which can have more than one person.

Accountable 

The Accountable person is responsible for overseeing overall task completion, though they may not be the person actually doing the work.

There are two ways to assign an Accountable role. Sometimes, the Accountable is the project manager (or even the Responsible, though in that case the person is taking on two different roles during the task workflow). In these cases, the Accountable is responsible for making sure all of the work gets done.

In other cases, the Accountable is a senior leader or executive who is responsible for approving the work before it’s considered complete. Like the Responsible role, there should only ever be one Accountable.

Consulted 

This will be the person or people who should review and sign off on the work before it’s delivered. There may be multiple Consulted roles for each task, project milestone, or deliverable.

Informed 

This is the person or group of people who are informed about the progress and completion of work. They probably are not involved in any other aspect of the deliverable.

When should I create RACI charts?

RACI charts are a helpful way to track each stakeholder’s role for a task, milestone, or deliverable—especially if you’re managing a complex project with many decision makers and subject matter experts. With a RACI chart, you can prevent poor decision making and avoid roadblocks in the approvals process that could impact overall project success.

These charts, while different from PERT charts, are especially useful if your stakeholders may be taking on different roles throughout the project. For example, there could be a stakeholder who is Responsible on one deliverable but Informed on another. With a RACI chart, you can clearly outline these details and make sure everyone knows who’s responsible for what.

How to make a RACI chart

Ever felt like your project was spinning out of control, with team members unsure of their roles and responsibilities? You're not alone. This is when a RACI chart comes in handy. Let's walk through the steps of creating a RACI diagram with a software development project as an example.

Step 1: List the project tasks

Start by breaking down your project into specific activities or deliverables. For our software project, tasks might include:

• Define project scope

• Design wireframes

• Develop front-end code

• Conduct user testing

• Launch the site

These tasks cover key phases in the project lifecycle and give team members a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished from start to finish.

Step 2: Identify key stakeholders

Next, identify all the roles involved in your project, from team members to stakeholders. For our RACI chart example, we might have:

• Project Manager: Oversees the entire project.

• Business Analyst: Gathers requirements and ensures they’re met.

• UX Designer: Responsible for creating wireframes and the user experience.

• Front-End Developer: Codes the website.

• Marketing Team: Needs to be informed of key milestones for launch coordination.

• IT Support: Handles post-launch maintenance.

This step ensures that no team member is left in the dark and that all informed parties are represented.

Step 3: Assign RACI matrix roles

Now, for each specific task, decide who's responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. With the example of "Defining project scope," you might have:

• R: Business analyst

• A: Project manager

• C: UX designer

• I: Front-end developer, marking team, and IT support.

Remember, there should only be one 'A' per task to avoid confusion!

Step 4: Review and adjust

Go through the RACI framework with your team. Look for gaps, overlaps, or ambiguities and iron them out. Maybe you realize the backend developer should be consulted on the UX design to confirm feasibility.

Step 5: Share the RACI chart

Finally, share the RACI chart template with the entire team and any other key stakeholders. In the case of the software development project, the RACI framework helps each project team member know their role in delivering the final product. Sharing this chart helps reduce miscommunication and makes sure the project progresses smoothly.

By following these steps, you'll create a powerful tool to streamline communication and clarify roles throughout your project phases. No more confusion about who's doing what—your team can focus on what they do best, moving your software from concept to launch with less miscommunication and more efficiency.

RACI chart example

To build a RACI chart, list every task, milestone, or deliverable for your project. Then, identify who the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed team members are for each one.

Let’s say you’re updating the homepage on your website. Project stakeholders include:

• Copywriter

• Designer

• Head of website

• Web developer

You want to create a RACI diagram for five tasks and deliverables:

• Update homepage CTAs

• Update customer story on homepage

• Revamp website design

• Improve homepage loading speed

• Update homepage design

The RACI chart would look like:

Update homepage CTAs

• Responsible: Copywriter

• Accountable: Web developer

• Consulted: Head of website

• Informed: Designer

Update customer story on homepage

• Responsible: Copywriter

• Accountable: Web developer

• Consulted: Head of website

• Informed: Designer

Revamp video on homepage

• Responsible: Designer

• Accountable: Web developer

• Consulted: Head of website

• Informed: Copywriter

Improve homepage loading speed

• Responsible: Web developer

• Accountable: Web developer

• Consulted: Head of website

• Informed: Copywriter & Designer

Update homepage design

• Responsible: Designer

• Accountable: Web developer

• Consulted: Head of website

• Informed: Copywriter

Pros and cons of RACI charts

Ultimately, the question is: should you create a RACI chart? While RACI charts are a useful tool to identify project responsibilities, they can get a little cumbersome over the lifecycle of a project. Here are the pros and cons of creating a RACI matrix for your team’s work:

RACI charts benefits

Clear project roles and responsibilities can help your team move fast and reduce confusion about who’s working on what. With a RACI chart, you can ensure you don’t have two team members working on the same thing. As a result, you’ll have an easier time collaborating with your team.

RACI charts are also particularly helpful when the decision-making process is split between tasks. There might be scenarios where the Informed on one task or milestone is the Responsible or Consulted on another—in order to have that clearly defined, it’s helpful to track this work in a RACI diagram.

RACI chart pitfalls (and how to avoid them)

RACI models focus on the granular, instead of capturing work at the project level. You might know who the Consulted is on a particular task—which is helpful—but knowing that doesn’t help you understand how various stakeholders interact with the broader project work.

Additionally, if you attempt to write out each task and each role, your RACI chart can get bulky. Worse, if your project changes in some way, your RACI diagram would immediately become outdated. That can make it hard for you to gain real-time clarity about where each task is in your project workflow.

RACI charts are limited because they aren’t able to adapt to your project needs in real time. In order to establish clear expectations and eliminate confusion on the project level, you need a project management tool.

RACI matrix alternatives

While the RACI matrix is widely used, it's not the only game in town. In fact, frameworks like DACI, RASCI, RAS, CARS, and CLAM can be tailored to fit specific project plans and methodologies.

Here are some popular RACI alternatives that might better suit your project needs.

DACI

The DACI model is a variation of RACI, with a stronger focus on decision-making. It breaks down as follows:

• Driver: The person responsible for carrying the project forward.

• Approver: The decision-maker who has the final say.

• Contributor: Team members providing input and expertise.

• Informed: Individuals who need to be kept up to speed on project progress.

This model is particularly useful in agile environments where decisions need to be made quickly and with input from many different team members. It emphasizes the importance of having a clear approver to avoid delays.

RASCI

RASCI adds an extra layer to the traditional RACI model. The 'S' stands for support. In this RACI framework:

• Responsible: The person performing the task.

• Accountable: The person accountable for the task.

• Supportive: Team members providing additional help or resources.

• Consulted: People whose input is required.

• Informed: Those who need to be informed of progress.

The RASCI model is useful in projects with more complex roles, especially when there’s a need to clearly define supportive roles to avoid overlaps in responsibilities.

RAS

RAS is a simplified version of a RACI chart that focuses on just three key roles:

• Responsible: The person doing the work.

• Accountable: The person overseeing the task.

• Supportive: People providing resources or assistance.

RAS works well in smaller teams or in scrum methodologies where the focus is on speed and efficiency.

CARS

CARS flips the script a bit by focusing on who's in charge of communication, which is especially helpful in project plans that require multiple layers of approval and clear communication channels. It looks like this:

• Communicate: Who needs to be kept in the loop.

• Approve: Who has final decision authority.

• Responsible: Who will complete the work.

• Support: Who provides help or resources.

CARS is often used in industries that require heavy compliance or formal approval processes, where miscommunication can cause serious delays.

CLAM

For a different approach, there's CLAM. This model can be particularly useful in Agile or Scrum environments, where leadership and oversight need to be clearly defined. Here's what it looks like:

• Contribute: Team members providing direct input or work.

• Lead: The individual overseeing the task.

• Approve: The one with decision-making power.

• Monitor: Those keeping an eye on project progress and ensuring everything stays on track.

CLAM is beneficial in projects with complex methodologies, where tasks require significant collaboration but also demand clear leadership and approval processes.

Take your RACI chart to the next level

With project management software, every task has an assignee—that’s the Responsible. You can see work on the project level, so the Accountable and Informed don’t have to check in via email or status meetings. And, for any approvals you need from your Consulted, you can track reviews and approvals in one place. That way, your entire RACI team has a central source of truth for all of the work being done.

Instead of having your RACI chart separate from where the work is happening, project management tools capture the topic, assignee, and other important information like the task due date or relative importance. That way, your entire project team has visibility into who’s doing what by when—and you’re not relying on a single person to manage and update your RACI chart. Project management tools update in real time, so you can see exactly where you are in the approval process.

Track who’s doing what by when

Clear team roles and responsibilities help you hit your deliverables on time. Tracking different and complex stakeholder responsibilities in a RACI matrix can help you do that—but RACI charts are just the beginning. Learn more about work management, and how your team can benefit.