A RACI matrix example, and how to make a RACI chart

Every project has a task that two people think they own and another that each of them thought the other one was doing. You usually find out in the last week. The copy goes live in two versions because two people approved it, and the old URLs return errors because nobody set up the redirects.

A RACI matrix puts those questions on one page before the work starts. Tasks go down the side, people go across the top, and every cell gets a letter or stays blank. This guide explains the four letters and the one rule that matters most, then works through a full example: a made-up company relaunching its website, from a first draft with three problems to the finished matrix. After that come the steps to make a RACI chart of your own and the mistakes to look out for.

A note before we start. We make Prompt Board, and our RACI matrix template is the same website relaunch matrix, ready to edit. A spreadsheet works too.

What a RACI matrix is

A RACI matrix is a table that says who plays which part in each task of a project. Wikipedia's article on the responsibility assignment matrix lists two other names for it, "responsibility assignment matrix" and "linear responsibility chart". The letters stand for four roles:

• R, Responsible. The people who do the work. Wikipedia's definition is "those who complete the task", and every task needs at least one.
• A, Accountable. The one person who owns the result. They hand the work to the people marked R and sign it off when it's done.
• C, Consulted. People whose input you need before the work is finished, such as a specialist. Wikipedia calls this "two-way communication". You ask, they answer, and the answer can change the work.
• I, Informed. People who need to know about progress or the outcome. That's "one-way communication" in Wikipedia's terms. You tell them, and they don't get a say.

The same person can hold R and A for one task. That's common on small teams, and the matrix shows it as R/A.

One A per task

If you remember one rule, make it this one: each task has exactly one A. The Wikipedia article puts it as "there must be only one accountable stakeholder specified for each task or deliverable", and notes that this comes from some project management theories rather than all of them. In practice, two As on one row means two people who can each say the work isn't finished, and neither can settle it alone.

The rule isn't unique to RACI. Atlassian's DACI decision-making framework describes its Approver as "the one person (yes: one!) who makes the decision."

The A doesn't have to be the most senior person in the room. It should be the person who will be asked about the task if it goes wrong, and who has the authority to say it's done.

A RACI matrix example: relaunching a website

Everything in this section is invented: the company, the people and their decisions. The point is to show how a matrix changes between the first draft and the version a team can work from.

The project

Larchwood is a made-up company with 25 staff that sells garden furniture online. Its website is six years old, and the managing director wants a new one live before the spring season. Five people are involved:

• the marketing lead, who runs the project
• a designer
• a developer
• a legal adviser, who works for the company two days a week
• the managing director, who pays for it

They broke the relaunch into seven tasks, from agreeing the budget to approving the go-live.

The first draft and its three problems

The marketing lead filled in the matrix alone on a Monday morning and shared it at the kickoff. Three problems came up within twenty minutes.

1. Two As on the page copy. The marketing lead had marked herself A, and the managing director had added his own A during the call because he wanted to read every page. Reading every page is a C or an I. Owning it is an A. He took an I on the copy and kept his A on the go-live approval, where he sees the whole site before anything changes.
2. Nobody responsible for the redirects. The row for redirecting the old pages had an A for the marketing lead and nothing else. She assumed the developer would set them up. The developer's column was empty in that row, so he assumed someone in marketing would send him a list. The row got an R for the developer.
3. Legal consulted on everything. The draft gave the legal adviser a C on all seven tasks. With two days a week, that meant seven reviews queued behind each other. The team kept her C only on the copy and the go-live, where product claims and delivery terms matter, and made her A for the cookie banner and privacy notice.

The finished matrix

This is the version the team agreed at the end of the kickoff. A blank cell means that person has no part in the task.

Check the rows first. Each of the seven has exactly one A, and each has at least one R.

What the columns showed

Reading down each column shows how the work is spread across people.

The developer has an R on three tasks: the build, the cookie banner and the redirects. All three land in the last weeks of the project, so the team moved the redirect list forward. The marketing lead now sends it in week two, while the developer is still waiting for layouts.

The marketing lead has an R or an A on five of the seven rows. That's expected, since she runs the project. It also means that if she's off sick for a week, five tasks stall.

The managing director's column has two As and four Is. He decides the budget and the go-live, and hears about everything in between. That was the point of moving his A off the copy.

The legal adviser's column is mostly blank, and that's fine. A blank cell is a decision too. She has no part in the page layouts, so nobody needs to wait for her there.

The same matrix, ready to edit

The RACI matrix template on Prompt Board is this Larchwood matrix: seven tasks, five roles, a colour for each letter and a key beside the grid. Rename the roles, replace the tasks with yours, and change the letters in each cell.

How to make a RACI chart, step by step

1. List the tasks. Write the pieces of work down the left side, each as a short phrase with a verb: "Write the page copy", not "Copy". Keep them at the level you'd discuss in a weekly meeting. Larchwood needed seven. If you end up with forty, group them.
2. List the people or roles across the top. Use roles if the matrix will outlive the current team, and names if it won't. Either way, everyone should be able to find their own column.
3. Assign the A first. Go row by row and pick one person per task. If two people want it, stop and settle that now. It won't be easier later.
4. Add the R. Who does the work? At least one per row. If the A also does it, write R/A.
5. Add C and I, sparingly. For each C, ask whether their answer could change the work. If it couldn't, they're an I. If they don't need to hear about it at all, leave the cell blank.
6. Check the rows, then the columns. Every row needs one A and at least one R. Then read down each column. A column full of Rs belongs to someone with too much work, and a column with nothing but Is may belong to someone who doesn't need to be on the project.
7. Agree it with the people in it. Walk through the matrix at the kickoff with everyone whose name is on it. A matrix one person filled in alone is a guess. Larchwood's draft found its three problems in that meeting.

Once it's agreed, keep the matrix where the team already works and update it when someone joins, leaves or changes roles.

Common mistakes

• Shared accountability. Two As on one row, or an A given to a whole department. "Marketing" can't sign anything off. Write the person or the single role who does.
• A task with an A and no R. Someone owns it, and nobody is doing it. Larchwood's redirects were this mistake.
• Too many Cs. Every C is a review the work waits for. If you can't say what a person's input would change, they're an I.
• Is who need to act. Informed means told, with no action expected. If someone has to do something when they hear the news, their part is an R in another task. Give that task its own row.
• Tasks too vague to assign. "Website" can't have one owner, because it's dozens of jobs. "Build and test the site" can.
• Filling it in once. A matrix written in week one and never opened again describes a team that no longer exists by week eight. Look at it whenever the plan or the people change.

RACI variants: RASCI and DACI

The Wikipedia article lists several variations on the four letters. Two come up often.

RASCI, also written RACIS or RASIC, adds S for support. The article gives no more detail than that. If you need the extra letter, use it for people who help with the work but aren't responsible for it.

DACI stands for driver, approver, contributors and informed, and Atlassian presents it as a framework for decisions rather than tasks. In its team playbook, the driver gathers the information and gets the decision made by an agreed date, and the approver is the one person who makes the decision. Contributors have, in Atlassian's words, "a voice, but not a vote". If your problem is one decision that keeps stalling, DACI fits better. If it's a project with many tasks, use RACI.

Frequently asked questions

What does RACI stand for?

Responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. Responsible people do the work, the accountable person owns the result and signs it off, consulted people give input before the work is finished, and informed people are told about progress or the outcome.

Can a task have more than one A in a RACI matrix?

No. The usual rule is exactly one accountable person per task. If two people both need to sign off, give one of them the A and make the other a C, or split the task into two rows with one owner each.

Can the same person be responsible and accountable?

Yes. On small teams the person who owns a task often does it as well. Mark the cell R/A. The rule limits each task to one A, but it allows several Rs and an R and A in the same cell.

What is the difference between consulted and informed?

Consulted people are asked before the work is finished, and their answer can change it. Informed people are told afterwards or along the way, and they don't get a say. If in doubt, ask whether the work would wait for that person. If it would, they're a C.

What is the difference between RACI and DACI?

RACI assigns roles for every task in a project. DACI, as Atlassian describes it, assigns roles for a single decision: a driver who gets it made, one approver who makes it, contributors who advise, and people who are informed of the result.

Make your own RACI chart

Write your tasks down the side and your people across the top, then give every row its one A before anything else. Open the RACI matrix template to start from the Larchwood example, and share the board link with everyone in it before the kickoff. If the project is still taking shape, the project kickoff template gives that first meeting an agenda, and a stakeholder map helps you decide who belongs in the matrix at all. When the relaunch is a product release, our guide to user story mapping shows how to decide what goes into the first version.