RACI matrix explained: who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed

A RACI matrix is a table with tasks down the side and people across the top, where each cell says whether that person is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted or Informed for that task. Its job is to answer "who is doing this, and who decides?" before anyone has to ask. The RACI matrix tool builds the table and checks the rules as you go, and this guide explains them with a worked example.

What the four letters mean

• Responsible — does the work. There can be several people responsible for one task.
• Accountable — owns the outcome, makes the final call and signs it off. Exactly one person.
• Consulted — gives input before the work is done or the decision made. Two-way communication.
• Informed — kept up to date after decisions or milestones. One-way communication.

The difference between R and A is the one people most often blur. Responsible is about doing; accountable is about answering for the result. On small tasks the same person is often both, and the tool accepts a task with an A and no separate R on that basis.

The rules that make it work

Most of the value comes from a few simple rules, which the tool checks in its Check column:

• Exactly one A per task. Shared accountability usually means nobody is accountable. If two people both have to approve, decide which one has the final say.
• Someone does the work. A task with no R and no A will not happen.
• Few Cs. Every consulted person adds a conversation before anything moves. Ask whether each C really needs to shape the work, or just hear about it.
• Balanced load. The tool's workload summary counts each person's letters and flags anyone carrying a heavy share of Rs and As.

A worked example

Imagine a 30-person company moving office. The people are Maya (operations manager), Sam (IT lead), Jo (finance), the office team and Chris (managing director).

• Choose the new building: Chris A; Maya R; Jo C; office team I.
• Agree the budget: Jo A; Maya C; Chris C.
• Move network and equipment: Sam A, doing the work himself; Maya C; office team I.
• Book removals and plan the day: Maya A; office team R; Sam C.
• Tell staff and clients: Chris A; Maya R; everyone else I.

Two things show up straight away. Maya appears on every row, so it is worth checking she has the time. And the budget row originally had Chris and Jo both marked A, which is exactly the kind of quiet conflict the matrix exists to expose; they agreed Jo owns the budget and Chris is consulted. Once roles are clear, a Gantt chart schedules the work and a kanban board tracks it week to week.

Variants: RASCI, DACI and others

Several variations exist. RASCI adds Support for people who help the responsible person without owning the task. DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed) is aimed at decisions rather than tasks: the driver moves the decision along and the approver makes it. Some teams drop Informed entirely and send a weekly update instead. The letters matter less than agreeing one version and using it consistently.

Common mistakes and limits

• Making it too granular. A matrix with 80 rows will not be read. Keep tasks at the level where ownership is genuinely unclear.
• Filling it in alone. A RACI imposed by one person is a wish list. Agree it with the people named on it.
• Writing it once. Roles change as projects move on. Revisit it at each phase.
• Everyone informed of everything. If the I column is full, a regular update or shared minutes does the job; the meeting minutes template records decisions and who owns each action.

A RACI is overkill for a two-person task or a team that already works well together. It earns its keep on cross-team projects, handovers and anything where "I thought you were doing that" has already happened once. If the project is also tied to goals, OKRs explained: how objectives and key results work covers how to make sure each key result has a clear owner.