Because of this, they need clarity on which teammates are doing tasks and who should be involved. RACI charts are Agile deliverables that accomplish that clarity.
RACI charts (which stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) are charts that outline activities and agreed-upon teammate responsibilities. This is not dictated to teams. Teams self-organize and make their own chart of responsibilities based on each individual's desires.
Here's an example of what it looks like:
An example of a RACI chart. Credit: Tech Fleet.
Responsible
Responsible parties are the people performing the work itself.
Accountable
Accountable parties oversee the progress of work and ensure the work has a successful outcome.
Consulted
Consulted parties review work and provide advice or feedback in the work.
Informed
Informed parties are told about the work while it's happening or after it's finished.
Why are RACI Charts Valuable?
RACI charts are valuable because they provide extreme clarity on what team members are commiting to each week. These charts change as the team interacts with each other and decides how they want to change their responsibilities. The RACI chart is a deliverable every team can point to when there's a question about who's doing what, or who's supposed to be doing what.
How are RACI Charts Made?
Teams get together in their self-organization and agree to their own commitments within different functions. They each bring their own unique background and capabilities. They each commit to different types of work based on how they want to learn and grow.
Once the team reviews typical Agile team RACI functions, they can build their own RACI charts by determining what functions each teammate wants to commit to during the project.
Team should build their own RACI charts before the project begins, and before every sprint begins based on sprint goals.
Key Components of Building RACI Charts
RACI charts evolve: they change every sprint based on team mate desires for work. If team mates want to span across functions, they commit themselves to different accountability and responsibilities. They self-organize and decide what to commit to themselves. This changes over time, each sprint.
RACI charts are flexible: they are based on team members' self-commitment. When team mates need to change their responsibilities, the team should support it.
RACI charts are agreements, not dictations: No one person should tell a self-organized team how they need to work, or what they should be working on. Individual team members have the power to determine their own responsibilities and commit to work every iteration. Yes, this means that UX designers pitch in to UX research work, and developers pitch in to UX design work. This is expected, and welcome, and encouraged, on cross-functional teams that have high psychological safety.
