RACI Responsible vs. Accountable—Key Concepts Defined

RACI (pronounced “racy”). Each letter stands for how someone relates to a project: responsible for doing the work, accountable for the success of the work, needs to be consulted on the work, and needs to be informed on the status of the work.

Each cell within the organization must have someone clearly accountable for it. This doesn’t mean the person is boss and/or gets to make all the decisions. In fact, it’s important to delineate the differences between accountability, responsibility, and authority.

it must be clear to all team members that accountability has not been relegated to a consensus approach, but merely to a shared team responsibility, and that the leader of the team will not hesitate to step in when it is necessary.

“First, make sure responsibilities are clearly defined—well known by the person who is responsible, but also by others. Second, make sure it is also clear who the person is accountable to—the person who is responsible for holding the person responsible. And, third, accountability is about understanding why something didn’t work and what needs to ha