The RACI Matrix for Project Planning

Like the WBS, the RACI Matrix comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. Typically, the RACI matrix is in the form of a table with the project tasks derived from the WBS listed in the rows and departments or individuals in the columns. PMBOK describes the RACI matrix in Chapter 9 on Human Resources. The value of the RACI Matrix is that it helps organize the project team by clarifying the responsibilities of the project team members. For an example of a simple RACI Matrix, see Figure 3-5.

In Figure 3-5, letters are used to indicate the nature of the responsibility link between a person and a task. Note that there must be at least one A in every row, which means that someone must be accountable for completion of each task. For example, examine the row with the task “Solicit quotations.” In this case the Project Engineer is account­able for the task being carried out while the Field Manager will be responsible for actually doing the work associated with soliciting quotations. The project’s Contract Administrator and the Compliance Officer/Risk Manager must be consulted about the solicitation pro­cess. The PM must be informed before documents are sent to potential vendors. Note that a particular individual or department can be assigned multiple responsibility links. For example, it is common for a person to be both accountable and responsible for a particular task.

Standard RACI Matrix templates are available to facilitate their development. One can use symbols or numbers as opposed to letters to refer to different responsibility rela­tionships, and the references may be to departments, job titles, or names. Only imagina­tion and the needs of the project and PM bound the potential variety. Likewise, additional columns can be added to the RACI Matrix to capture the due dates of tasks, actual dates completed, the status of tasks, performance metrics, and so on.

A final observation is needed on this subject. When we speak to functional manag­ers about project management, one comment we often hear is anger about changes in the project plan without notification to the people who are supposed to conduct the tasks or supply services to the project. One quote from the head of a statistics lab in a large con­sulting firm is typical. The head of the lab was speaking of the manager of a consulting project for a governmental agency when he said, “I pulled three of my best people off other work to reserve them for data analysis on the XYZ Project. They sat for days wait­ing for the data. That jerk [the PM] knew the data would be late and never bothered to let me know. Then the *%$#@% had the gall to come in here and ask me to speed up our analysis so he could make up lost time.”

Make sure to use the Inform category, not simply to report progress, but also to report changes in due dates, resource requirements, and the like.

Source: Meredith Jack R., Mantel Jr. Samuel J., Shafer Scott M., Sutton Margaret M. (2017), Project Management in Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3th Edition.

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