RACI Matrix (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed)
The RACI matrix assigns exactly one Accountable owner and named Responsible, Consulted and Informed parties to each task, so decisions don't stall because everyone assumed someone else owned it.
Names fill a table where each row is a task and each column a role, with one cell marked Accountable per row.
Reach for this when…
- A project stalled and everyone thought someone else was driving it.
- Too many people are being copied into every decision, slowing things down.
- A new cross-functional project is starting and roles haven't been made explicit.
How to run it
- List every task or decision in the project.
- For each, name who is Responsible (does the work).
- Name exactly one person who is Accountable (owns the outcome).
- Name who must be Consulted before a decision, and who just needs to be Informed after.
- Check every task has exactly one A, and cut anyone in C or I who doesn't need to be there.
A worked example
Situation. Tamar Cohen managed a product launch at a fintech startup in Tel Aviv, Israel, where a compliance sign-off had stalled for two weeks because three people each assumed another owned it.
Applied. She built a RACI for the launch. The compliance task had three names in Consulted and nobody Accountable. She named the head of legal as sole A.
Result. Sign-off happened within three days because there was finally one person whose job it clearly was to say yes or no.
The catch
The matrix easily balloons: too many tasks, too many Cs, and it becomes a maintenance burden nobody updates after week one. It also assumes stable roles, so it fights fast-moving teams where responsibility genuinely shifts day to day.
If a task has two Accountables, it has none. Force the choice.