RACI is a way of assigning four distinct roles to a task: Responsible does the work, Accountable owns the outcome, Consulted is asked beforehand, and Informed is told afterwards. The rule that carries the weight is that exactly one person is Accountable. Two accountable people is the same as none, because each can reasonably assume the other has it.
In more detail
Small teams tend to dismiss this as corporate process, which misses what it is for. The problem it solves is not coordination overhead, it is the specific failure where two people can both see a problem and each reasonably assumes the other is handling it.
That failure is more likely on small teams, not less, precisely because everyone talks to everyone and responsibility is diffuse. Nobody is careless; the structure makes the assumption reasonable.
You do not need a matrix for everything. Applying it to the handful of decisions where a dropped ball costs real money captures nearly all the value at almost none of the cost.
The four roles
| Role | Means | How many |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible | Does the work | One or more |
| Accountable | Owns the outcome | Exactly one |
| Consulted | Asked before the decision | As few as possible |
| Informed | Told after the decision | As many as useful |
Where people get it wrong
- Naming two accountable people. This is the one rule that cannot bend.
- Making everyone Consulted. Consultation is expensive; most people are Informed.
- Assigning teams rather than names. A team is not accountable, a person is.
- Building it for every task. Use it where a dropped decision costs something, and nowhere else.
Common questions
What do the letters in RACI stand for?
Responsible does the work, Accountable owns the outcome, Consulted is asked before the decision, Informed is told after it.
Can two people be accountable?
No, and this is the rule that matters. Two accountable people produces exactly the failure RACI exists to prevent, because each can reasonably assume the other has it.
Is RACI overkill for a five-person store?
For everything, yes. For the handful of decisions where a dropped ball costs real money, no. Small teams are more prone to the diffuse-responsibility failure, not less.