I like a RACI.
There. I’ve said it.
I know plenty of people don’t. Some think you should never start a project without one. Others think they’re pointless project-management paperwork.
I wouldn’t go that far in either direction.
But if I’m picking up a project where there’s any doubt about who owns what, I’ll normally throw one together.
And I do mean throw one together.
The mistake is thinking the first version needs to be right. You can spend ages working out every activity, whether someone is Responsible or Accountable, whether something deserves its own row…
Don’t.
Make a rough one.
Put down the handful of important things that need to happen. Put some names against them. Then get it in front of the people involved.
Because the useful bit isn’t really the spreadsheet. It’s what happens when somebody says:
“Hang on. Why am I accountable for that?”
Great. You’ve found something worth talking about.
Better now than three months into the project.
Sometimes you’ll find that you and the sponsor have completely different ideas about what you’re there to do. I’ve had things put against me that I absolutely didn’t think I owned. I’m sure I’ve done the same to other people.
That’s useful to know.
There are a couple of other reasons I like having one around. When a decision gets stuck, it gives you somewhere to go back to. Who actually owns this? Who gets to make the call?
Ten people can have perfectly valid opinions on something. That doesn’t mean all ten get a vote.
And if a project gets properly into trouble, an agreed view of who owns what can suddenly become quite handy when everyone’s memory starts getting a little flexible.
Accountable versus Responsible
This seems to cause more debate than it should.
I tend to keep it pretty blunt.
Accountable is the person whose head is on the chopping block.
If the thing isn’t happening, that’s the person you can ultimately go to. They need enough authority to actually do something about it.
Responsible is the person making sure it gets done day to day. They might do the work themselves or drive other people to do it, but they’re the person you’d ask, “Where are we with this?”
And if you can, have one Responsible person.
Three people jointly responsible for something has a habit of turning into nobody being responsible for it.
Keep it rough
Don’t spend another afternoon making the boxes perfect.
Give the people involved a chance to challenge it, change it or accept it. If nobody objects, I’m generally happy to work from it – unless it’s something that genuinely needs explicit sign-off.
Then keep it somewhere you can actually find it.
Pull it out when you need it.
That’s the point of the thing.