RACI Matrix for a software development team.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) aka RACI Matrix is the simplest solution to effectively define and document project roles and responsibilities. This not only resolves team conflicts but also answers about who is responsible, who is accountable, who needs to be consulted, and who must be informed for each and every day to day activity in the project.

To understand it better and its benefits and how to use it, Let’s understand in short what this acronym ‘RACI’ means and what to understand when defining one.

R — Responsible

aka Recommender.

A person assigned to do the activity.

Those who do the work to achieve the task. There is at least one role with a participation type of responsible, although others can be delegated to assist in the work required

A — Accountable

aka Approver or Final Approving Authority.

A person makes final decisions and has ownership.

The one ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one who delegates the work to those responsible. In other words, an accountable must sign off (approve) work that responsibly provides. There must be only one accountable specified for each task or deliverable.

C — Consulted

aka Consultant or counsel

A person who should be consulted before a decision or action is taken.

Those whose opinions are sought, and with whom there is two-way communication.

I — Informed

aka Informee

A person who must be informed when a decision or action has been taken.

Those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication.

Benefits

The most important part of implementing a process or a rule set is to understand its benefits and then only we can decide if we need it in our project or not.

• Everybody in the team clearly knows his responsibility and role specifically in a particular project.
• Encourages teamwork by clarifying roles and responsibilities.
• Determines ownership.
• Reduce misunderstanding and Improves communication.
• Eliminate duplication of effort.
• Confirm that workload is equally divided into the team and not only a single member is overloaded.
• Reduce bad decisions by ensuring the correct people are involved.
• Clarify hand-offs and boundaries.
• In case anybody leaves the project, resources replaced by him can quickly understand his role in a particular task and responsibility.

Defining Activity vs Role’s RACI Matrix

Usually, a software project consists of the below Roles who are involved in one or other among the below-listed activities but sometimes their path crosses and it gets difficult to determine who is the decision-maker and who is responsible for completing a task and who must be consulted and who should be informed after taking a decision:

RACI Matrix sample for a software development team

Use this excel to modify as per your need: RACI Matrix Sample.

Conclusion

The basic and underlying fact about the use of RACI matrix is to avoid the ambiguities related to one’s expected responsibilities and boundaries. This can help in reducing the duplication of effort and helps in easy onboarding of a new resource by clearly specifying the expected responsibilities which need to be delivered and also explain when one’s voice should be heard if the role should be consulted.