Software Management Tips: Comparing RASCI vs RACI

As a field, software development borrows heavily from project management principles. Responsibility assignment matrices are a popular project management tool for organizing teams and keeping track of who owns the different areas of a project. RASCI and RACI matrices are possibly the most used frameworks. When comparing RASCI vs RACI; however, the differences are actually quite minimal.

To see how RASCI and RACI matrices can improve project and team management in the SDLC, it’s important to understand what these charts are and how they're used.

What does RASCI/RACI stand for?

RASCI and RACI are acronyms based on specific categories covering the distribution of work in each project. These categories are used to identify which team members are assigned to specific areas or tasks and the scope of their responsibilities. This helps to clarify who is assigned to different tasks and areas of the project. It helps with understanding their roles and how they relate to other team members.

These key categories are:

• Responsible: Who is ultimately responsible for the project?
  Team members in this category ensure that the project is completed successfully. They are typically the project owners and project managers responsible for managing and facilitating the project’s execution. There can be multiple team members who are Responsible for a task’s completion, but there must always be at least one.
• Accountable: Who oversees each task within the project?
  Accountable team members are responsible for the planning and execution of tasks that contribute to the completion of the project. Each task should only have one person accountable for it. With that said, more than one person can contribute to the task’s completion. The Accountable team member on a given task is the first and last stop for answers regarding how the task is progressing, what resources are necessary, and what challenges they’re facing.
• Supportive: Who is supporting the completion of the project/task?
  Support roles are sometimes not as visible as the Responsible roles despite sharing the same goal. They provide support in terms of time or resources to help move the project forward. There is no limit to the number of team members who can be in Support roles on a task.
• Consulted: Who do you need to consult?
  To successfully complete any project, communication is key. Sometimes this requires consulting external parties like points of contact for clients or line of business stakeholders for more information regarding project requirements and specifications. It could also refer to team members with domain expertise in areas of the project who can offer insights into how the project can be completed.
  There is no limit to the number of team members who can be in Consulting roles on a task.
• Informed: Who needs to be kept up to date?
  These are the stakeholders who need to be kept in the loop throughout the project. There is no fixed limit to the number of team members who may need to be informed on the progress of tasks.

RASCI vs RACI

RASCI and RACI are essentially the same, they’re so similar they may often be used interchangeably. Where they differ however is in the inclusion of the Support role.

Teams that use RASCI in their project management approach include Support roles, to keep track of the team members who help the project along by offering resources, information, or additional capacity. Some organizations prefer not to include Support roles in their responsibility matrix, opting for the more minimal RACI approach instead.

How are RASCI and RACI charts used?

Ordinarily, the RASCI/RACI chart features a familiar matrix shape. The rows represent tasks, and columns represent the titles (or in some cases the names) of team members working on the project. Each cell in the matrix is then labeled with one of the RASCI or RACI categories to denote whether the team member in question is to be Responsible, Accountable, Supportive, Consulted, or Informed for a given task.

These charts are useful points of reference to keep track of how team members are allocated. When each member of the team has clearly defined roles and responsibilities, there is less room for confusion or for tasks to fall behind.

Using either RASCI or RACI charts provides several key benefits, including:

• Improving communication between team members
• Making handoffs and transitions between tasks more efficient
• Improving overall project productivity and efficiency

Putting your RASCI or RACI chart into play

While it might be tempting to compare RASCI vs RACI for your organization, try to remember that how you use them is what matters most. So, when do you prepare a RASCI or RACI chart?

Ideally, your RASCI chart should be done at the beginning of any new project. While the RASCI is flexible enough to be updated as the project goes on, starting strong with your roles and responsibilities clearly defined and agreed upon can help teams to get down to work faster.

When preparing a RASCI/RACI chart for a project, be sure to follow these steps:

1. Identify the tasks that need to be done.
2. Identify the different roles and stakeholders involved in the project (including your customers, or third parties that contribute resources to the project).
3. Order your task list in the vertical column and your list of roles and stakeholders on the top rows.
4. Assign Responsible tags to the relevant roles/stakeholders on a task-by-task basis.
5. Next, assign the Accountable tags.
6. Add the Supportive (if using RASCI), Consulted, and Informed tags
7. Distribute the chart to the team and relevant stakeholders to get feedback.
8. Make changes based on feedback and review again.
9. Make the chart shared for everyone involved.
10. Periodically review the chart to ensure that everything is consistent.
11. Update the chart as necessary (for example, if team members become unavailable, or roles change suddenly)

Leverage your RASCI/RACI charts for better development

With your roles and responsibilities, all defined and your teams ready to get moving, you might think your RASCI or RACI charts have done their job, but you could be missing the bigger picture. Having a responsibility assignment matrix certainly helps with allocating the right people to the tasks they’re best suited to, but it can do much more than that.

Going back to your charts periodically can help to keep track of where responsibilities on tasks are assigned throughout the project. This is important for managing your team’s workloads and the equitable distribution of responsibilities.

Be sure to keep an eye out for:

1. Tasks with too many people Responsible:
   The more people that are responsible for a task, the more contentious ownership becomes. This can create confusion and miscommunication which will negatively impact productivity and effectiveness.
2. Tasks with too many people to be consulted
   People listed as Consulted help to provide key information and expertise to help move tasks and projects forward. However, just as “too many cooks spoil the broth”, too many Consultants could slow down your tasks. If you need input from more than half the team to proceed on a task, you’ll quickly run into bottlenecks.
3. Team members who are Accountable for several tasks.
   Being Accountable for tasks can be a very demanding role. If it’s possible to delegate Accountability to other members of the team, it can help balance individual responsibilities more fairly. Doing this helps with better workload management and can slow burnout in your talent.
4. Team members Responsible for too many tasks
   Being Responsible for a task naturally comes with a lot of pressure to ensure that the task is completed successfully. Consequently, when a single team member is responsible for too many tasks, their workloads could easily grow out of control. Keeping an eye on this is a good way to see where tasks could use either more Responsible roles attached or where team members may need more support.
5. Empty spaces on tasks
   Tasks missing critical roles like team members who are Responsible or Accountable for their execution could be heading for disaster. While it’s easy to ensure that at least those roles are filled, it’s also necessary to assign roles for Consulting and Support. Finally, every task also comes with key stakeholders who should also be kept informed.

Final thoughts on RASCI vs RACI

While RASCI vs RACI can be a moot point in many teams, including Support roles in your responsibility assignment matrix can always help spread the work out. If dedicated Support roles can provide clarity into where your team’s effort is being applied, you should include them. However, if you don’t find them advantageous in your situation, using RACI may be the way to go.

Regardless of whether you choose RASCI or RACI, the goal should be to clarify the roles and responsibilities in your projects and tasks. When your team is all on the same page communication and information exchange becomes easier. Better communication leads to better collaboration and team productivity going forward. To learn more about improving communication in your teams, visit our article here.