Responsibility Matrices
Responsibility matrices are a family, not one fixed table, and while RACI is the default, RASCI, RAPID and DACI variants exist because different decisions need different roles named, so picking the wrong variant is as common a failure as skipping the exercise altogether.
Four cards sit side by side, each naming a different matrix and the roles it tracks.
Reach for this when…
- RACI feels like it's missing a role your decisions actually need.
- You've rolled out a responsibility matrix once and it didn't stick.
- Different kinds of decisions in your business need different matrices, not one template forced onto all of them.
How to run it
- Work out what kind of decision this is: operational task, or a genuine strategic call.
- Choose the variant: RACI for tasks, RAPID or DACI for bigger decisions needing a clear final call.
- Name the roles specifically. Job titles create ambiguity that named people don't.
- Pilot it on one real decision before rolling it out everywhere.
- Retire or revise the matrix the moment it stops matching how decisions actually get made.
A worked example
Situation. Sanne de Vries ran a furniture manufacturer in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where a standard RACI template had been forced onto every decision, including major ones that needed one clear final call rather than four consulted parties.
Applied. She split the matrices in two: RACI stayed for production tasks, and a DACI variant, Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed, took over for the big calls, like which supplier to drop.
Result. The supplier decision that had dragged for six weeks under RACI was resolved in eight days under DACI, because one person, the Approver, could finally just decide.
The catch
Running multiple matrix variants at once asks people to remember which rules apply to which decision, and that overhead defeats the purpose if it's not kept simple. It's also easy to mistake having a matrix for having actually resolved the underlying disagreement about who should hold power. The tool clarifies roles; it doesn't settle whether the right person holds them.
If every decision in your business gets the same matrix, you don't have a responsibility system. You have a template nobody thought about twice.