The Beauty of the RACI

The RACI chart is a standard document in most projects and I would say that it should be a standard in ALL projects ..but what is a RACI chart anyway?

RACI is an acronym and different organizations have different takes on what each letter means and that is why as a project manager, you should be aware of the standards of your client's company with regards to a RACI chart - take the time to ensure you have the right definitions because it can cause confusion later on. It is usually created when a project has just been conceptualized.

Typically RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. In other organizations, it can mean Responsible, Approver, Consulted, Informed or even Responsible, Approver, Coordinator, Informed. Whatever it can mean, it always answers the need to know who are the people responsible in defining and delivering the project and what is their role in EVERY task in a project. Most RACI chart requires there is only one R for each task or only one A for each task if the A means accountable - a good practive to have.

I recommend having a template of all the possible task that a project can take vs lumping them into generic work that may cause issues later on. The template can then be "customized" based on what a project requires. Remember - a task that says "complete the design document required for all data interfaces" is much more trackable and thus controllable that a task that says "complete design documents".

What is the importance of a RACI when you have a solid, trustworthy team? Each project is unique and in my experience, there is always room for assumptions and one assumption that team members usually make is that if the task is unfamiliar to them - then it might not be theirs and will taken cared of by another team member. Another situation is when the task can be performed by more than one person in a team - you can either have a case of two people doing the same work or noone doing the work.

By having a RACI chart from the start, you ensure that each person knows their role, the extent of their role, what they are expected to do in each task, if any, and how they relate to other people and their roles - a perfect recipe to prevent roles and responsibilities issues later on.

And My Knees Still Shake...

Today is another workshop day and this time for project requirements that require the participation of several global representatives from different regions.

I have participated in several of these in my lifetime. I coordinated several of these and I led several of these types of workshops as well and today was the simplest one I will participate in in the past 3 years - I only need to welcome the team, give them the vision of the end result, tell them why this project is important to the company, my team, and me and yet - my knees still shook prior to the talk - the same knees that shook during my first ever public talk. This time though - there is a difference. I knew it would happen and I knew how to control it.

Unknown to my team, I was actually preparing for the 30 minutes of talk for a few days now - forming the structure in my head, deciding what I needed to say and what I need to accomplish. I probably played the whole thing in my head for several hours already- each time tweaking - each time enhancing - I made sure I knew what my message should be, how to impress that message to the audience I knew would be there and ensure they leave knowing how important the project is and more importantly, how important they are in ensuring its success.

That is my mission - get them not just on board the boat - but rowing - rowing like no man has rowed before - rowing with a determination to reach the destination I need us to reach with ferocity and perseverance.

I need them to be partners, not spectators. I need them to be fully engaged, not a temporal being. I need them to know that without them, this project will not succeed. I need them to know that they are the team that will see this to the end - and that we will succeed together or fail as one.

I know that during this project, as the rest I led, problems will pop up, conflicts will happen but after today - they all know that we are all responsible for each other, for the project and for the company.

My knees shake no more...