---
name: raci-matrix
description: Use when asked to build a RACI matrix specifically — the Responsible/Accountable/Consulted/Informed variant of responsibility-assignment-matrix — including the PARIS variant sometimes used instead.
---

# RACI Matrix

A RACI matrix is the most common named variant of a
[[responsibility-assignment-matrix]] (RAM), assigning each task or
deliverable one or more of four responsibility levels for each team
member or role involved.

## The four levels

- **Responsible** — the person or people who actually do the work to
  complete the task.
- **Accountable** — the person ultimately answerable for the task's
  correct and complete completion; best practice keeps this to exactly
  one person per task, so accountability doesn't diffuse across a group.
- **Consulted** — people whose input or expertise is sought before or
  during the work, typically through two-way communication.
- **Informed** — people kept up to date on progress or outcomes,
  typically through one-way communication, without needing to be
  consulted beforehand.

## Building a RACI matrix

List every task or deliverable down one axis and every team member or
role across the other; for each task, mark who is Responsible,
Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. A single person can hold multiple
letters for the same task (frequently Responsible and Accountable
together on a small team), but the discipline of assigning exactly one
Accountable party per task is what most distinguishes a well-formed RACI
matrix from a vague one.

## PARIS as an alternative

Some organizations use **PARIS** (Participate, Approve, Responsible,
Input, Sign-off) instead of RACI — a variant with a different set of
levels, more oriented toward approval workflows. See
[[responsibility-assignment-matrix]] for PARIS and other variants
(including RACIO) placed alongside RACI as siblings under the same
general RAM concept.

## Common pitfalls

- **More than one Accountable person per task** — the single most common
  RACI mistake; it recreates the accountability gap the matrix exists to
  close.
- **Confusing Consulted and Informed** — Consulted implies two-way
  input sought before/during the work; Informed is one-way, after the
  fact. Mislabeling one as the other sets the wrong expectation about
  whether someone's input is actually being sought.
- **Marking too many people Consulted** — inflates communication
  overhead; every added Consulted party adds a check-in the Responsible
  person must make before proceeding.
- **Building it once, at project kickoff, and never updating it** — as
  scope or team composition changes, the matrix should too (see
  [[responsibility-assignment-matrix]] for this general
  maintenance point).

## Learn more

- [[responsibility-assignment-matrix]] for the general RAM concept and other variants (RACIO, PARIS).
- [[statement-of-work]] for a document that commonly embeds a RACI/RACIO matrix directly.