One table that ends the fight over who's supposed to do what. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, a grid that assigns exactly one of those roles to every person, for every task, on a project.
The point isn't the chart itself. It's the conversation that happens while you build it. Most team friction comes from two people who both think they own a decision, or a task everyone assumed someone else was covering, RACI forces that into the open before it costs you a missed deadline.
- List the tasks first, not the people. Write down every meaningful task or decision the project requires, before you think about who's involved.
- List every role that touches the work across the top. Use roles or titles rather than individual names so the chart still holds when someone changes seats.
- Assign exactly one Accountable per row. If two people are Accountable for the same task, in practice nobody is.
- Fill in Responsible, Consulted, and Informed. A task can have several Responsible parties, but keep Consulted and Informed lean, both slow a task down every time you add a name.
- Review it with the group before you rely on it. Disagreements should surface here, in a meeting, instead of later, in a missed handoff.
A working example built around a client implementation project. Replace the task names, role headers, and letters until it fits whatever you're running.
| Task / Decision | Exec. Sponsor | Impl. Manager | Engineering Lead | Customer Success | Client Admin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Define project scope & success criteria | A | R | C | C | C |
| Configure system & integrations | I | A | R | I | C |
| Data migration & validation | I | A | R | C | R |
| User acceptance testing | I | C | C | A | R |
| Client training | I | I | I | A | R |
| Go live | A | R | R | C | I |
| 30 day post launch review | I | A | I | R | C |
- Keep the chart to one page. If it needs a second tab, the project needs to be broken up.
- Revisit it at project milestones, ownership shifts as a project moves through phases.
- Use it in kickoff meetings so new stakeholders see the map on day one.
- Don't assign Accountable to a group or a title with three people in it, name the person.
- Don't confuse Consulted with Informed, one is a conversation, the other is a notice.
- Don't build it alone and hand it down, the buy-in happens in the building.
The download includes a second tab, "Why & How to Use," with the same guidance above plus the use cases, so you don't have to come back to this page while you're filling it in.