RACI responsibility matrix

Contract

Enforces the RACI responsibility-assignment convention whenever responsibilities for a set of activities must be allocated across a set of roles: a grid with activities as rows and roles as columns, every cell holding one of the letters R, A, C, I (or staying blank), and every row carrying exactly one A. Not for drawing org charts, building schedules, or headcount planning.

Rules

1. Four letters, fixed meanings.

• R — Responsible: performs the activity. The hands that do the work.
• A — Accountable: answers for the outcome and gives the final sign-off. One per row.
• C — Consulted: gives input before or during the work. Two-way communication.
• I — Informed: receives one-way updates on progress or completion. Never asked first.

1. Exactly one A per activity — never zero, never two. An activity with no A is an orphan;

an activity with two A's has no owner at all (the classic violation is a cell pair sold as "shared accountability"). When two roles both claim ownership, exactly one keeps the A; the other becomes R or C.

1. At least one R per activity. An owner with nobody doing the work is a wish, not a plan.

A row may carry several R's; it must carry at least one.

1. The grid orientation is fixed. Activities are the rows. Roles are the columns. Never

transpose it, and never replace the grid with prose paragraphs about collaboration.

1. Cells hold letters only. R, A, C, I, a combined A/R — or nothing. No sentences, no

personal names, no percentages, no "leads" / "supports" / "helps". Nuance goes in a footnote beneath the grid, never inside a cell.

1. Blank means not involved. A role with no part in an activity gets an empty cell. Handing

out letters "to be safe" produces a wall of noise that says nothing.

1. One role may hold both A and R. Write the combined cell as A/R. It still counts as the

row's single A.

1. Keep C and I honest. C is two-way — the role's input genuinely shapes the work before it

is done. I is one-way — the role hears about it afterwards. Marking every stakeholder C manufactures review bottlenecks; when input is not truly needed, downgrade to I.

Worked examples

Prose ownership → grid. The default answer describes collaboration; the convention demands letters.

BEFORE:

> The office relocation will be coordinated by the operations manager, working closely with > facilities. IT will take care of the network cutover, and department heads should be kept in > the loop throughout.

AFTER:

| Activity | Ops manager | Facilities | IT lead | Dept heads | | --------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------- | ---------- | | Floor-plan selection | A | R | C | C | | Packing and labelling | R | R | | I | | Network cutover | I | C | A/R | I | | Move-day logistics | A/R | R | | I |

Two A's → one A. A monthly customer newsletter where the editor and the marketing lead "co-own" publication:

BEFORE (violates rule 2):

| Activity | Editor | Staff writer | Marketing lead | Support desk | | ----------------- | ------ | ------------ | -------------- | ------------ | | Issue publication | A | R | A | I |

AFTER:

| Activity | Editor | Staff writer | Marketing lead | Support desk | | ----------------- | ------ | ------------ | -------------- | ------------ | | Issue publication | A | R | C | I |

The editor answers for the issue going out; the marketing lead is consulted on timing; the support desk merely hears that it shipped.

Prose in cells → letters. A cell reading "reviews the draft and suggests edits" becomes C. A cell reading "keeps everyone posted" dissolves: the receiving roles get I, and the sender is already covered by its R on that row.

Edge cases & exceptions

• Two roles insist on joint ownership → one gets A, the other R or C. If neither will

yield, split the activity into two rows with genuinely separate outcomes; each new row still gets exactly one A.

• A committee appears as a column → a committee can be R, C, or I; the A belongs to a

single role. Put the chair (or one named office) in the A position rather than the whole body.

• A role wants visibility on everything → a column full of I's is legitimate; a column full

of C's is a bottleneck warning sign.

• An activity spans phases with different owners → split it into one row per phase so each

row keeps a single A.

• Nobody is actually doing the work → rule 3 forces the gap into the open: assign an R or

admit the activity is unstaffed.

Do / Don't

• Do give every row exactly one A. Don't write A under two columns, and don't leave a row with

none.

• Do keep at least one R on every row. Don't let an activity exist with only C's and I's.
• Do put activities in rows and roles in columns. Don't transpose the grid or answer in prose.
• Do leave uninvolved cells blank. Don't pad every cell with a letter.
• Do write A/R when the owner also does the work. Don't invent letters beyond the four.
• Do reserve C for genuine two-way input. Don't mark a role C when an after-the-fact update

would do.

Common mistakes

• Prose paragraphs about "coordinating closely" and "keeping everyone aligned" instead of a

grid.

• Two or more A's on one row — or a row with no A anywhere.
• Cells containing names, job descriptions, or phrases instead of the four letters.
• Every cell filled: a wall of C's and I's that hides who actually acts.
• An activity with an A but no R — owned, yet unstaffed.
• Marking a role C to be polite when it only needs to be informed.

Quick checklist

• Activities as rows; roles as columns.
• Every cell: R, A, C, I, A/R, or blank — nothing else.
• Each row: exactly one A (A/R counts), at least one R.
• C only where input truly shapes the work; I for update-only roles.
• Uninvolved cells left blank.