🦾RACI Charts

Agile teams govern themselves and contribute to work as Heist teams. Learn more about how teams agree to responsibilities across different functions.

Video Version

Coming soon

What are RACI Charts?

Because Agile teams operate as Heist Teams since they are cross-functional, they all contribute to shared outcomes together. They do not have specific job titles. They have functions and commitments they assign themselves.

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.

Who Maintains RACI Charts?

The Scrum Master Role is typically the party that maintains RACI charts. Any one person can take on this responsibility in the form of building a RACI chart together as a team.

Agile Team RACI Workshops

Here are Workshop Templates your team can use before a project and during projects to outline their own self-organized RACI charts.

Do these in order:

1. Review typical RACI charts for Agile teams

2. Build your own team RACI for the project

3. Plan a sprint and build a RACI for each sprint

Review Typical RACI Chart for Agile Team Functions

This workshop allows teams to get together and review the typical responsibilities for Agile team functions.

https://www.figma.com/community/file/1475625041866413630www.figma.com

This is a workshop for teams to review the typical RACI team structure across functions. Credit: Tech Fleet https://www.figma.com/community/file/1475625041866413630

Build Your Own RACI Chart

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.

https://www.figma.com/community/file/1475633199032605250www.figma.com

This is a workshop for an Agile team to build their own RACI chart by self-commitment of responsibilities for each team member. Credit: Tech Fleet https://www.figma.com/community/file/1475633199032605250

Plan the Sprint and Build a RACI for a Sprint

Once the team has their own RACI chart, you can plan a sprint, and build a RACI chart for each sprint based on the shared outcomes the team needs to achieve. See the lesson for Sprint Planning Items in the guide.

🧑‍💼Sprint Planning Items

When Should Teams Build their RACI Charts?

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

How to Build RACI Charts

Here are the steps:

1. Do these in order:

   1. Review typical RACI charts for Agile teams

   2. Build your own team RACI for the project

   3. Plan a sprint and build a RACI for each sprint

Head to the Next Lesson