CIO Corner

RACI—Getting
Projects
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“Unstuck”
Tom Costello, UpStreme

A
fter observing count- this simple technique, which has informed—such as managers,
less projects over the been around (and promoted) for a partners, vendors, or those in-
last three decades, it while but remains underutilized. volved in parallel projects. Typi-
amazes me how many cally, the “R” person is responsible
projects seem to flounder—not RACI Rules for communicating with everyone
from a lack of effort but because There’s a small set of rules for us- across the RACI.
participants, tasks, and the overall ing RACI. First, only one person
project simply get stuck. The par- should be the “A” (accountable) Implementing RACI
ticipants might be putting forth person for a given task or activity. Every project has its own way of
a tremendous amount of effort This person will ultimately an- evolving the tasks necessary to
without producing the desired re- swer for the assigned task’s com- reach a planned outcome. Regard-
sults. Although the specifics might pletion and success, even though less of your technique—such as
vary, the common threads in these this might not be the person who “future basing” (where you start
problematic situations are unclear actually performs the work. with the end and work backward,
expectations for activities and a The person who’s accountable identifying all of the prerequisite
lack of life-cycle ownership. Usu- then identifies those necessary to steps) or bottom-up (brainstorm-
ally, the problem doesn’t occur on accomplish the stated outcome. ing tasks and then grouping them
just a single task in a matrix orga- These are the “R” people—those into tracks)—you’ll eventually face
nization; it extends to other tasks responsible for performing the a long list of tasks grouped into
and projects across the entire or- task. In many cases (particularly one project plan. Project sponsors
ganization. on small teams), one person might should assign “owners” to the
Fortunately, there are models be both accountable and respon- project, subprojects, and tracks.
for determining task ownership sible for the work. In RACI parlance, we assign the
that can help address this issue. Although the standard RACI “A” people to the highest level of
The most commonly used model model defined the “C” as “con- the project and then start working
in business and IT (with minor sulted,” I prefer to modify this to our way down into the tasks. In
tweaks across the industry) is a more action-oriented term, such all cases, critical path tasks must
the R ACI model (Responsible, as “contributes.” These contribu- have all RACI assignments com-
Accountable, Consulted, and In- tors act as the subject matter ex- pleted as early as possible. It’s best
formed). Yet too often, CIOs get so perts for the given task. to make RACI assignments to a
far above the fray that they fail to Invariably, there will be the role rather than a person and to
enforce RACI’s use. So let’s review “I” people who need to remain (continued on p. 62)

64 IT Pro March/April 2012 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1520-9202/12/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
 CIO Corner
(continued from p. 64)

Roles
Stage/phase Project Program Project Business Business Business Tech Developer Quality
user user analyst lead assurance
Deliverable sponsor manager Architect manager
(core) (team)
Breadth and depth diagram I I I C C A/R I I I
Business use case list I I I C C A/R I I I
Technical use case list I I I I I C A/R I I
Business user sign-off I I I R A I C I I I
Scope 1 (Business user needs)
Increment list I I C C I R A/R I I

Figure 1. Assign the RACI labels (responsible, accountable, contributor, or informed) to each row of the
phase list. Highlight the A’s to ensure coverage of all tasks and provide a first-look at any possible overloading
at the role level.

Figure 2. An example project plan with RACI assigned to all resources (roles).

use specific names only to clarify the various tasks will clarify the however. RACI isn’t just a plan-
an assigned role. Figure 1 shows loading of the assigned resources ning technique or technology
an example of a project phase list for this task and project. To term. It’s an enterprise-wide mind-
completed as a RACI. make all RACI-integrated docu- set for properly distributing par-
Every project planning tool lets ments more useful, you should ticipation and expectations to
you assign names to tasks, but no also ensure that the non-IT par- efficiently accomplish work.
tool integrates the RACI concept ticipants understand the RACI If you have a project in trouble,
“out of the box” for tracking and model, including the project’s you need to attend the next team
reporting. So, you’ll have to be a business sponsors. meeting, leadership meeting, or
bit creative to reflect the assigned working session and take atten-
R ACI on your project plan (see More than a Label dance based on the RACI. If the
Figure 2), but once you do, the Using R ACI on project docu- As for the tasks or tracks aren’t
alignment of R ACI roles with ments isn’t the end of the process, present, you’ve found your core
problem. If core Rs and Cs aren’t
present, you need to send them
the meeting minutes and request
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62 IT Pro March/April 2012

for Articles
Call
escalate the problem. If the team
is stuck on making a decision,
empower the A to make the call,
and then support his or her de-
cision. This will help the person
earn the team’s respect so he or
she can make the tough calls in
the future. If you’re in a CIO or
leadership role and your team is
Be on the Cutting Edge of Artificial Intelligence!
always calling on you to make the
tough calls, you’re probably not
using or supporting a solid RACI
culture. Publish Your Paper
in IEEE Intelligent Systems

A
s a CIO, make sure your
project leads and Proj-
ect Management Office
are familiar with and using the
IEEE Intelligent Systems
RACI model. Then, reinforce its seeks papers on all aspects
use by asking for RACI assign-
ments when issues are raised for of artificial intelligence,
your consideration. You’ll quickly
find that effective project teams focusing on the development
embrace RACI, because it clari-
fies roles and creates a clear peck- of the latest research into
ing order for action, solution, and practical, fielded applications.
escalation.
CIOs shouldn’t be afraid to
wave the term around at executive
project update meetings, either. For guidelines, see
You’ll know you’ve successfully
embedded RACI into your cul- www.computer.org/mc/
ture when you hear business
intelligent/author.htm.
people using the terminology in
meetings.

Tom Costello is CEO of UpStreme, a

The #1 AI Magazine
IEEE

Selected CS articles and www.computer.org/intelligent

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