Why RACI is shortsighted
Rigid frameworks, like RACI, proposes an order to the relative chaos of companies and a shortcut around culture. This isn't how people, teams, or organisations work. You cannot make someone engage with you in any meaningful way regardless of where they appear on an official framework or matrix.
This was tweeted the other day and we wanted to expand on this a little more.
If you feel like you have to rely on a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) or equivalent model to enable work within your own teams, you have bigger problems than you think.
— Jessica (@JessBuildsTech) March 29, 2021
This screams a bigger problem with your teams culture, impacting retention, and talent).
RACI is an acronym typically used by business folks to help divvy out who is responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed for a specific programme, project, or business unit. The 'who' specifies a named individual, team, or business unit dependant on how large the scope being covered is.
The RACI framework is often trotted out at the very start of a programme or project as a way to ensure folks are on the same page about who their stakeholders are and then never used again. This is an inefficient but acceptable use of the RACI framework.
Most of our encounters with a RACI framework are scenarios where the framework is patching over some glaring cultural, talent, or priorities issues. This framework plaster is applied in a slap dash attempt of hoping the folks asking questions will find another target to go and bother.
How does a RACI framework negatively impact teams?
Firstly some ground rules for teams. Any high performing team should be self organising regardless of skillset. Programme or project teams should also be multidisciplinary in their skillset and empowered to investigate and fix within a pre-defined remit.
Imposing a RACI framework onto the team negates their ability to predefine their own world view as a team. If a team chooses to develop their own RACI framework as an attempted shortcut to understanding their stakeholders then the best of luck to them. I'm yet to meet a team who have proactively created, or wanted to be involved in creating, a RACI framework.
Programmes and projects of work are somewhat fluid especially if the work is in a uncertain space. Modern companies are also fluid, offering their best performers regular stretch assignments and multiple skunkworks teams on the go at the same time. None of this plays well with the rigid longstanding worldview a RACI framework imposes.
How does the RACI framework impact culture?
Culture is incredibly hard to quantify, but you know when you're in an organisation with a good fit and when you're not. You can feel it in each interaction across an organisation, and it sometimes feels unique between teams or business units.
Rigid frameworks, like RACI, proposes an order to the relative chaos of companies and a shortcut around culture. This isn't how people, teams, or organisations work. You cannot make someone engage with you in any meaningful way regardless of where they appear on an official framework or matrix.
A framework won't solve your people problems.
Ensure your teams are well stocked with the best talent you can realistically convince to work on solving the problem and ensure they're empowered to get the job done, whatever that might end up looking like. By releasing your command and control you will gain better results and outsmart your competition, which is what really matters.
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