RunsheetOperations

RACI Matrix

ComplexityLow

Time45-90 min

Participants2-8

FormatWorkshop + async

MaturityCanonical

Preparation

What needs to be ready before start

Materials

Table (Confluence, Notion, Google Sheets) with rows for activities/deliverables and columns for roles; visible R/A/C/I legend; activity list; role list; timer per activity block.

People / roles

One facilitator (process lead or PMO); representatives of all roles involved in the process; one sponsor with mandate to decide conflicts; one scribe for consolidation and publication.

Pre-read

Process or project frame; complete list of activities or deliverables (15-40); roles, not people; known conflicts from recent weeks; existing RACI or responsibility documents.

Time needed

45-90 min

Setup

Prepare empty table. Legend: R = Responsible (does the work), A = Accountable (one person, carries final responsibility), C = Consulted (provides input beforehand), I = Informed (is informed). Rule: exactly one A per row.

Core question

The one question this method answers

Who carries final responsibility for each activity, who actively contributes, who is consulted and who is informed?

Flow

Marker: Phase

Step	Duration	Action	Hint
1Phase 1: Sharpen activities and roles	10-15 min	Review activity list, split overly broad items, merge overly fine ones. Check role list: roles, not people, no teams as monolithic unit.	RACI at team level ("Engineering") is usually too broad. The real decider is a role (Engineering Lead, Architect, Senior Engineer).
2Phase 2: First assignment	20-30 min	Per row: Accountable first (exactly one role). Then Responsible (one or more). Add Consulted and Informed. Silent work, then collection.	Multiple As per row are the most common trap. If two roles want to be Accountable, the activity is either too large or the conflict is open. Split activity or sponsor decides.
3Phase 3: Conflict resolution	20-30 min	Make conflicts and gaps visible: rows with two As, empty cells, overloaded roles (too many Rs). Go through conflicts one by one; sponsor decides on spread.	Conflicts are the most valuable result. Avoid quick consensus compromises; document dissent if it cannot be resolved.
4Phase 4: Overload and simplification	10-15 min	Column check: does one role have too many As (bottleneck) or too many Cs (overconsultation)? Consolidate or redistribute.	More than 5-7 As per role is a bottleneck. At 10+ Cs in one column, the role becomes a bottleneck and process slows. Actively reduce Cs.
5Phase 5: Publication and cadence	10-15 min	Store matrix in shared tool as single source of truth. Communicate to all involved. Schedule review in 4-6 weeks for first adjustment.	A RACI without communication is ignored. Owner must present the matrix in the next routine meeting, not only link it as documentation.

Artifact

What comes out at the end

Form

Published RACI table as document with header (process, date, sponsor), activity and role list, R/A/C/I cells, list of unresolved conflicts with owner and escalation path plus review date.

Versioning / ownership

Date and owner in header per edition. For changes, edit log at the end, no silent overwriting. Check unresolved conflicts from previous edition for decisions.

Tool alternatives

Confluence or Notion page with table
Google Sheets with filter per role
Linear or Jira workflow with role custom fields
Org chart tool with responsibility view

raci-matrix-working-template.md

Compact working template for RACI Matrix with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.

RACI Matrix Working Matrix

Element	Description	Rating	Evidence	Owner	Next step
1
2
3

Output artifacts

RACI Matrix:
Responsibility Map:
Decision Notes:

Decision or recommendation

What consequence follows from the matrix?

Example output

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

raci-matrix-beispiel.md

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

RACI - Incident Response Process Tier 1, Q2 2026

Sponsor: @marcus (Head of Engineering). Review: 2026-06-30.

Activity	On-Call Engineer	Incident Commander	SRE Lead	Product Owner	Customer Success	CTO
Detect and triage incident	R	A	C	I	I	I
Declare Sev-1	C	A	C	I	I	I
Update status page	R	A	I	I	C	I
Customer communication for Sev-1	I	C	I	C	A,R	I
Decide and approve hotfix	R	C	A	I	I	C
Schedule and facilitate postmortem	C	R	A	C	I	I
Track postmortem actions	C	C	A	R	I	I
Notify external authorities on data protection	I	C	C	I	I	A,R

Conflicts (Phase 3):

"Decide hotfix": initially disputed between On-Call Engineer (R) and SRE Lead (A). Sponsor decision @marcus: SRE Lead remains Accountable, On-Call co-decides hotfix and escalates on conflict.

Created 18 months ago, roles and activities changed, nobody maintains it.

What to do

Plan quarterly review cadence. Responsible owner with escalation right on standstill. If maintenance is impossible, do not start RACI.

Stop criteria

Done signals checkable in under a minute

Activities or deliverables cannot be clearly defined, matrix remains theoretical.

Roles are not stable or organization is changing, assignment ages quickly.

Sponsor missing or without mandate, conflicts cannot be decided.

Representatives of important roles are absent and unreachable within 7 days, assignments become one-sided.

Process is highly dynamic and changes monthly, matrix becomes outdated immediately.

Team is small (<6 people) with clear roles, RACI creates overhead without added value.

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