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What Is The RACI Chart and Why Is It Important to Project Managers

Productive teamwork is crucial for any project management. However, in most cases, it’s sure to find teams losing track when working on complex projects. This mostly occur when there are no clear identified roles and responsibilities assigned or in where no one knows who is accountable for the task at hand.

Also, when the knowledge of who needs to be consulted or who must be kept informed of the project’s processes is unknown.

A company may have an air-tight project with an exceptional team to back up its objective. However, the moment there is no involvement in the tasks, the level of demotivation creeps in.

Confusion and crankiness may also be experienced. To avoid these issues, most managers deploy a responsibility assignment matrix called the RACI chart.

What is a RACI Chart?

It is a responsibility assignment matrix chart that maps up every task, and critical decision for any project completion. It assigns roles and responsibilities involved in each project, for instance, which personnel are accountable and who need to be consulted or informed for the project’s success.

In other words, the RACI chart describes the participants involved in a project by their various roles in completing a task or deliverables for a successful project.

The acronym RACI stands for-.

Responsible– answers who is doing what for the actual project task. Who are the people or stakeholders assigned?

Accountable– The chart identifies who owns the task or the person responsible for the overall task completion or deliverable. This person may not be involved in the actual work but foresees the process to its final.

Consulted– Consulted parties are people or stakeholders whose expertise will be needed. The chart identifies who needs to be consulted for any detail, input, or additional requirements.

Informed– It highlights people or stakeholders who need to be kept in the picture or made aware of the task progress updates. They might not be directly consulted, nor do they contribute directly to the decisions on the task.

When to use a RACI chart

The chart can serve every task well. However, it will be of more help where a project needs multiple resources, depends on other projects, or even runs concurrently.

There are also some situations where it is not clear who is in charge of a project or no clear indication of other people’s contributions towards the task at hand. Such may derail any project, and this is where RACI comes in handy.

Additionally, RACI can be of great help in situations like;

• When there is unfair and uneven project workload distribution
• When the conflict and confusion of who owns the task or has the final say over the job erupts.
• When the decision-making process could delay the task delivery.
• When a company brings someone new on board, and they need to know their responsibilities.

How do you create a RACI Chart?

Creation of RACI chart includes the following six steps:

•  Identify project roles

Every manager should list everyone involved in project execution, with their roles alongside their names.

Why?

When names specify roles, it makes it simpler to define who is involved in the project management and what responsibility they have. Take, for instance, when multiple people are handling similar functions.

•  Identify the project task or deliverables

A manager is to identify all the tasks involved in delivering the project and list them in order. Break it down to clear deliverables.

•  Assign the RACI to each role and task 

The project manager should work through the task and identify who has the responsibility, and accountability, and who is to be consulted and informed about the task’s progress.

• Initiate alignment with the team

The manager should arrange a meeting with his/her team members. Have a discussion to correct any assumptions that they might have made, and read the filled out RACI to members to know their roles and responsibilities.

•  Discussion and Analysis 

A manager should call for a meeting and get alignment with his/her stakeholders. Discuss, analyze, and buy in the members’ ideas on the chart and get their approval.

•  Make it useful 

During the execution, refer back to the RACI chart and keep it updated. Always remind members on who is responsible and for what.

Every manager should ensure that each detail set out at the start of a project with the roles and responsibilities is accurate to the end of the project.

 Importance of RACI charts in project management 

1.  Enhances streamlined communication 

With the well-laid roles and responsibilities, managers would quickly know whom to address, and at what time in case of anything. Also, team members can easily be in a position of knowing to who they need to report.

Rather than involving everyone in the decision-making of a project, RACI enables managers to include the right people at the right time. It identifies who to be consulted, which speeds up sign-offs and the decision-making process.

      2.  Reduces Confusion 

Having you ever leave a meeting wondering what your responsibility is or who is doing what?

The responsibility assignment matrix clarifies the role and responsibilities of every person involved. Also, it provides an understanding of who does what. It shows vital activities as rows alongside the participant’s roles in the columns.

Clear roles cut down any confusion, which prevents delays and facilitates clear set expectations- who is managing or responsible for specific work.

    3. RACI chart facilitates accountability 

In the absence of the RACI chart, it’s obvious the project manager will take full responsibility for the project.

These responsibilities may be overwhelming, especially when only one person is to handle them. Therefore, the chart helps the manager delegate duties to the team members, which means that each member is answerable to their role.

In case of any wrong/right decision made, RACI is an excellent tool to ensure the right people get credit for good deeds or are responsible for any wrongful act that happens in their lines. It provides no chance for someone to steal the spotlight or even deflect blame on others.

    4.  Helps Managers to Prioritize the Project Resources

One of the difficult things about running any project is undoubtedly identifying where to put resources. When one area of a task is slacking, more resources could be diverted to those areas.

Additionally, suppose a part of a project does not require too many resources. In that case, managers divert time and attention to other factors. With the RACI chart, all the resources are used wisely. It identifies areas that need much attention, depending on the roles allocated.

    5. Easy onboarding of new employees

There are circumstances in which you will find a team member leaving a company for different reasons. When this happens, the new team member on board is brought up to speed with the RACI chart’s help.

He/she will find outlined roles that they need to fill in; the action will save the company the time and money to train the new employee.

    6. Reduces work overlap and people overload

With no direction on any project, tasks can get repeated. Mistakes may recur more often, especially when no one pays attention, leading to task work overlap. Using RACI charts, managers can ensure that every part of the project is done by a team or individual assigned.

Moreover, getting opinions from everyone can be a nightmare, especially when a manager wants to incorporate everyone’s points of view. With the RACI chart’s help, there is a distinction between persons to be consulted and informed.

It can help the managers separate those involved in the execution and those involved in the feedback. Or those to be updated on the progress of the project.

The RACI chart is an essential tool to manage persons of different roles within a project. However, it can have some advantages that come along with it. It’s time-consuming to create and use. It may not be suitable for all types of projects, and it can sometimes add complexity to projects or processes.

For an effective project management plan, managers have to remember that the RACI chart will help them identify the stakeholders to be involved in the project execution.

Conclusion

RACI chart offers a quick and straightforward way for managers to analyze how their organizations operate. It helps them quickly identify tasks that might create conflict within the project execution and clarify roles and responsibilities in the presence of everyone facilitating mutual control.

Besides, the RACI chart helps project managers prioritize the project resources and facilitates easy onboarding of employees. It also helps reduce work overlap and people overload, promotes accountability, among other benefits.