What’s a RACI Chart? Tips and Tricks for Using This Project Management Tool

From a project management perspective, organized communication is always better. RACI charts are a great way to maintain clear and open communication with all stakeholders and avoid overwhelming team members with tasks or unnecessary information.

Here’s how and when we like to use RACI charts at Adapt:

What’s a RACI chart?

A diagram to map roles & responsibilities for a team.

• Responsible: gets it done 💪
• Accountable: held liable if not done 🔍
• Consulted: needs input 📝
• Informed: needs to know 💡

When do you use a RACI chart?

• If the decision-making or approval process could hold up the project
• When there’s conflict about task ownership or decision-making
• If the workload feels like it’s not distributed evenly
• When you need to onboard someone quickly to a new role

What does a RACI chart look like?

Best practices for RACI:

• Every item has at least one Responsible person

• There can be only one Accountable party per row
• No team member should be overloaded with Responsible items
• Every team member has a role on an item (it’s not uncommon for some to be Informed on most items)

And just for fun... here’s an example of how the characters in The Office might use a RACI chart for a new client!

Happy charting!