How did I miss this?
I was reading an article by Larry Kirchenbauer, a local leadership consultant, and he talked about helping a client become more able to set expectations, keep her team accountable, and achieve their goals. The responsibility matrix was one of the tools that helped them clarify roles. I have seen versions of it before, but not “the original.”
The idea is that there are various roles in a project, and each of these roles participates in a different way. Depending on the task, these roles need to be identified as:
- Responsible: responsible for implementation.
- Accountable: the ONE person who takes ultimate responsibility for the entire project.
- Consulted: internal expertise that is accessed to incorporate ideas and different perspectives into the project or task.
- Informed: those people who need to be informed of progress or results, as they will be impacted or will use the end result in some way.
I could see this tool as being particularly useful for ongoing processes or long-term, complex projects. I will certainly use it in the future!
Here is an article in wikipedia that has a nice overview, plus it reviews several other models (including support, verification, signatories, etc.)
Responsibility assignment matrix – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Genevieve Taylor's Blog 
We used RACIs at Bayer. I found it to be a somewhat useful tool during the project planning phase. I’m surprised you haven’t run into them before.
By: Matt A. on November 30, 2012
at 1:12 pm
I was surprised too! I have run into a version of it with project planning tools, but not the simplified original tool, which I like much better than what I had seen. Pretty funny – but I am usually at the higher level of strategic planning, rather than the details of project planning. Are there other tools that you found particularly useful for project planning? Of course there are GANT charts, Microsoft project, etc. But any other simple tools?
Thanks for your comment, Matt!
By: genevievetaylor on November 30, 2012
at 1:35 pm