In short: A RACI chart lists each task with the people who are Responsible for doing it, the one person Accountable for the result, and who is Consulted before or Informed after; a good one gives every task exactly one A and at least one R. In the example, 4 of 5 tasks pass and "Design the template" fails because it has two Accountable people.
How to make a RACI chart with this tool
- List the tasks down the left: the deliverables, decisions or steps of the project. Up to 40. Keep them at the level where one person can own each one.
- List the people or roles across the top, up to 15. Names suit a small team; roles suit a process that will outlast the people in it.
- Choose a letter in each cell. R for whoever does the work, A for the one person who owns the result, R/A when that is the same person, C for anyone to ask first and I for anyone to tell afterwards. Leave the rest blank: most cells in a good RACI matrix are empty.
- Read the checks. The list under the chart names every task that breaks a rule and what to change. The table under it counts each person's R, A, C and I, so you can see who carries too much. Copy the chart as text or CSV, or share a link that opens it.
Everything updates as you choose, and nothing leaves your browser: the share link keeps the chart in the part of the address after the #, which browsers never send to a server. That makes it a RACI chart template that checks itself, without an account, a whiteboard app or a spreadsheet file to pass around.
The RACI rules the checks follow
Two rules make a RACI chart useful rather than decorative. Every task needs at least one Responsible, or nobody is doing it. And every task needs exactly one Accountable, or nobody, or everybody, has the final word. The IRS Internal Revenue Manual, section 2.110.2, which uses RACI tables for its requirements process, defines the model this way: "While many roles may be involved in a task only one is Accountable for the results." The same definition adds that when a task has no Accountable role, the Responsible role is assumed to be accountable.
The tool follows both sentences. Two or more A's on a task, or no R at all, is an error to fix. No A is a warning: if the task has a single R, the note says that person is taken to own it and suggests marking the cell R/A so the chart says so; if it has several R's, nobody is clearly accountable and you need to pick one. A task with no letters at all is flagged until someone is given a role, and a person with no role anywhere is named so you can remove them or find them a part.
A RACI chart example: launching a newsletter
The chart the tool opens with is a team of 5 launching a customer newsletter over 5 tasks. Maria, the marketing lead, sets the goals herself, so she is R/A on that task. Sam writes the issues, Priya designs the template, Leo from legal both reviews and signs off the review (R/A), and Dana in sales is consulted on what customers want and informed of the results.
One task has a mistake, the kind that is easy to make in a meeting. On "Design the template" both Maria and Dana are marked A, so the checks report: Design the template: 2 people are Accountable (Maria, Dana); keep one. The fix is a conversation, not a formula: if Dana's real interest is that the template suits sales, she is Consulted, and the A stays with Maria. Change her cell to C and all 5 tasks pass.
The roles per person table shows something the rules do not catch: Maria is Accountable for 4 of the 5 tasks. That is normal for a project lead, but on a bigger chart a column full of A's is worth a second look, because one person signing off everything becomes the queue every task waits in. A column with no letters, or only I's, may mean that person does not need to be on the project at all.
RACI matrix tips
Write tasks as outcomes ("Legal review", "Send and report results") rather than departments, and keep them small enough that one person can own each. Agree the A before the R: deciding who answers for a task usually settles who does it. Keep C short, because every Consulted person is someone the Responsible has to wait for; often an I is enough. And revisit the chart when the team or the plan changes, since a RACI matrix that no longer matches the work is worse than none.
A RACI chart sorts out who does what. To agree on which option to pursue in the first place, score them in the decision matrix calculator; to see how much work the team can take on, use the sprint capacity calculator; and to plan the work across shifts, the shift rota generator spreads it evenly.
Esta herramienta también está en español: matriz RACI.
Questions people ask
What does RACI stand for?
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. Responsible people do the work. The Accountable person owns the result and signs it off. Consulted people are asked for their view before the work is done, in a two-way conversation, and Informed people are told about progress or the outcome afterwards. A RACI chart, also called a RACI matrix or responsibility assignment matrix, puts the tasks down the side and the people or roles across the top, with one letter in each cell.
What are the rules of a RACI chart?
Every task has exactly one Accountable person and at least one Responsible person. The IRS Internal Revenue Manual puts the first rule plainly: many roles may be involved in a task, but only one is Accountable for the results, and if no Accountable role is shown, the Responsible role is assumed to be accountable. One person can be both, written R/A. This RACI chart maker checks both rules on every task as you fill it in, and says which task breaks which rule.
What is the difference between Responsible and Accountable?
Responsible is doing; Accountable is answering for it. A designer can be Responsible for a newsletter template while the marketing lead is Accountable, agreeing the brief, approving the result and answering for it if it goes wrong. Several people can share the R on a task, but the A belongs to one, so there is never a question of who has the final say.
Can I use a RACI chart template in Excel instead?
Yes, and many teams do. A spreadsheet holds the letters, but it does not check them: nothing warns you that a task has two A's or none, and nobody counts how many tasks land on one person. Make the chart here, then use Copy as CSV to paste the grid, with a column that says whether each task passes, into Excel or Google Sheets. The share link opens the same chart for anyone you send it to, with no file and no account.
Should I list people or roles across the top?
Either works. Names are clearer for a small team on a single project, because nobody has to translate a title into a person. Roles (product owner, legal, design) suit a process that outlives the people in it, such as a hiring or release process. Whichever you choose, give each column a role in at least one task; the tool lists anyone left without one.
What are RASCI and DACI?
Variations on the same grid. RASCI adds S for Support, people who help the Responsible do the work. DACI uses Driver, Approver, Contributors and Informed, and is common for decisions rather than tasks. The checks here are for plain RACI; if you use RASCI, mark supporters as Consulted or Responsible, whichever is closer to what they do.