There will be days in your professional life when you feel that oh you learned something which will act like an elevator In your growth, discussion on RACI Matrix was one of that.
I would like to give credit to @Sharada Bose , time to time I take advice from her ( she has been wonderful person & always ready for mentoring).In Early 2016 when I was onsite in USA for one of the largest Parking Solution provider of USA, She brought this topic while having discussion about cross functional team’s performance.
I would recommend top management should go through RACI matrix. Implementation in organization can be done multiple ways. May be it needs a separate blog post on it ;). But having thought process of RACI in early age can help a lot. Not only for executing IT Projects but this should be in DNA of the organization.
What is a RACI Matrix?
RACI stands for Stakeholder’s Role Responsible Accountable Consulted & Informed
The four roles that stakeholders might play in any project/ task/decision include the following:
- Responsible: People or stakeholders who do the work. They must complete the task or objective or make the decision. Several people can be jointly Responsible. Cross functional team members can be responsible as well. Responsible stakeholders are the one who needs to execute the task with or without help of other stake holders. More authority should be in hands of Responsible & accountable person.
- Accountable: Person or stakeholder who is the “owner” of the work. He or she must sign off or approve when the task, objective or decision is complete. In smaller organization & smaller task Responsible person can be an accountable too. As an organization there should be only one person accountable. Multiple people in this role usually create conflicts.
- Consulted: People or stakeholders who need to give input before the work can be done and signed-off on. These people are “in the loop” and active participants. People who may be at same position or may be lower or upper in management or may have better knowledge about the task ( it can be cross functional or it can be outside of the organization also) should be consulted for input in decision making. Also people who may not be responsible or accountable but may get highly affected by the decision should be consulted during the process.
- Informed: People or stakeholders who need to be kept “in the picture.” They need updates on progress or decisions, but they do not need to be formally consulted, nor do they contribute directly to the task or decision. ( sometime people make mistake on consulting a stakeholders who are supposed to be informed not consulted) If there is a change in the process or decision is made on something there may not be direct impact on day to day process but to ensure that their own decision making process stays aligned with what organization has decided, these stakeholders should also be kept in loop.
More about Responsibility Alignment Matrix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix
https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/raci-matrix.php
https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/how-to-do-raci-charting-and-analysis.php
Every time when you think of a change management, project management ensure to fill up RACI matrix.
Feel free to tag me on Twitter @ketanraval or linkedin @ketanraval if you want to discuss more on this. I am happy to share my experiences. Yes I did implement this in multiple companies & department.