When team leaders assess the scope and feasibility of the project, a primary consideration is the strength of each team member. From these strengths, leaders assign roles and responsibilities. Because a project requires that multiple task be completed, it's critical that team members assigned to each leg of the product are qualified not only to do the work, but to manage the process.
Assigning tasks to team members correctly will help make sure your projects succeed, and stay on time and on budget.
Project Efficiency Improves
Assigning responsibilities for project team members boosts efficiency. Having a clear understanding of project roles allows the leader to develop a timeline. Such a chart lists who is in charge of which task and when the specific portion of the project is expected to reach completion. If responsibilities are not assigned, the outcome of project tasks becomes unclear, vague and often incomplete.
Villanova University recommends creating key project team components using an executive sponsor, project manager, analyst and individual team members.
Assigning roles also enables members to get a better idea of which members are working on closely related tasks. Members can review the to-do list, see which member is completing the assignment and issue follow-up feedback and questions if necessary. Essentially, delegating tasks allows for the creation of a project blueprint.
Project Productivity Improves
Productivity is enhanced when the responsibilities assigned closely align with the team member’s strengths, explains MyManagementGuide. For instance, record-keeping jobs may align best with the team member assigned with all tasks related to accounting. Boosted productivity only arises when all members agree with the responsibilities assigned to them. They must also know how to achieve the tasks assigned.
Some team members might have very good technical skills in a specific area, but that doesn't mean they can communicate ideas to other team members, or lead other team members to get work on time. That's why management generalists with less technical knowledge often make the best team leaders.
Morale is Improved
Issuing responsibilities to team members gives each person a sense of ownership; they become invested in the project’s outcome, thereby increasing their efforts to create a quality product. Without assigning roles, members grow disinterested, detached and possibly territorial over parts of the project. Team leaders should recognize the successful completion of tasks to boost morale as well.
This is achieved by praising the worker in front of others and making an ordeal of crossing off their work from the project’s to-do list. Leaders must also ensure the work is evenly distributed by dividing work among team members fairly. This helps reduce resentment and creating stress for some workers while generating boredom for others.
Considerations
Team leaders may be effective at assigning tasks to employees but still encounter problems. Difficulties may arise from mediating personality clashes, disciplining apathetic workers and working with a limited budget. Task managers can reduce these barriers by holding routine meetings, conducting check-ups of each member and reporting to higher-ups about the project’s progress.
Having managed and rescued dozens of projects, and helped others do so, I’ve noted that there is always one critical success factor (CSF) that has either been effectively addressed or missed/messed up: clarity around the roles and responsibilities for each project participant and key stakeholder. No matter how detailed and complete a project plan may be for any project, confusion or omission of participant roles and responsibilities will cause major problems.
Enter the RACI matrix. The simplest and most effective approach I’ve seen and used to define and document project roles and responsibilities is the RACI model. Integrating the RACI model into an organization’s project life cycle (PLC) creates a powerful synergy that enhances and improves project outcomes.
What is a RACI matrix?
The RACI matrix is a responsiblity assignment chart that maps out every task, milestone or key decision involved in completing a project and assigns which roles are Responsible for each action item, which personnel are Accountable, and, where appropriate, who needs to be Consulted or Informed. The acronym RACI stands for the four roles that stakeholders might play in any project.
In almost 100 percent of these rescue efforts, I have found that there is no shared understanding of participant roles and responsibilities, nor is there explicit documentation to support it. Establishing such a consensus by employing the RACI model almost always gets a stuck project moving again, and enables the key stakeholders to readily deal with the other issues that require resolution.
RACI matrix roles and responsibilities
The RACI model brings structure and clarity to describing the roles that stakeholders play within a project. The RACI matrix clarifies responsibilities and ensures that everything the project needs done is assigned someone to do it.
The four roles that stakeholders might play in any project include the following:
- Responsible: People or stakeholders who do the work. They must complete the task or objective or make the decision. Several people can be jointly Responsible.
- Accountable: Person or stakeholder who is the “owner” of the work. He or she must sign off or approve when the task, objective or decision is complete. This person must make sure that responsibilities are assigned in the matrix for all related activities. Success requires that there is only one person Accountable, which means that “the buck stops there.”
- Consulted: People or stakeholders who need to give input before the work can be done and signed-off on. These people are “in the loop” and active participants.
- Informed: People or stakeholders who need to be kept “in the picture.” They need updates on progress or decisions, but they do not need to be formally consulted, nor do they contribute directly to the task or decision.
How to create a RACI matrix
The simple process for creating a RACI model includes the following six steps:
- Identify all the tasks involved in delivering the project and list them on the left-hand side of the chart in completion order. For IT projects, this is most effectively addressed by incorporating the PLC steps and deliverables. (This is illustrated in the detailed example below, after the simplified version immediately below.)
- Identify all the project stakeholders and list them along the top of the chart.
- Complete the cells of the model identifying who has responsibility, accountability and who will be consulted and informed for each task.
- Ensure every task has at least one stakeholder Responsible for it.
- No tasks should have more than one stakeholder Accountable. Resolve any conflicts where there is more than one for a particular task.
- Share, discuss and agree the RACI model with your stakeholders at the start of the project. This includes resolving any conflicts or ambiguities.
Here is an illustration of such a simplified RACI model:
RACI matrix best practices
Simply creating a RACI matrix is not enough. You must ensure that the matrix maps to a successful strategy. Here, conflicts and ambiguities in the plan must be hammered out.
Resolving conflicts and ambiguities in a RACI matrix involves looking across each row and up and down each column for the following:
Analysis for each stakeholder:
- Are there too many R’s: Does one stakeholder have too much of the project assigned to them?
- No empty cells: Does the stakeholder need to be involved in so many of the activities? Can Responsible be changed to Consulted, or Consulted changed to Informed? I.e., are there too many “cooks in this kitchen” to keep things moving? (And if so, what does that say about the culture within which this project is being managed?)
- Buy-in: Does each stakeholder totally agree with the role that they are specified to play in this version of the model? When such agreement is achieved, that should be included in the project’s charter and documentation.
Analysis for each PLC step or deliverable:
No R’s: Who is doing the work in this step and getting things done? Whose role is it to take the initiative?
Too many R’s: Is this another sign of too many “cooks in this kitchen” to keep things moving?
No A’s: Who is Accountable? There must be one ‘A’ for every step of the PLC. One stakeholder must be Accountable for the thing happening — “the buck stops” with this person.
More than one A: Is there confusion on decision rights? Stakeholders with accountability have the final say on how the work should be done and how conflicts are resolved. Multiple A’s invite slow and contentious decision-making.
Every box filled in: Do all the stakeholders really need to be involved? Are there justifiable benefits in involving all the stakeholders, or is this just covering all the bases?
A lot of C’s: Do all the stakeholders need to be routinely Consulted, or can they be kept Informed and raise exceptional circumstances if they feel they need to be Consulted? Too many C’s in the loop really slows down the project.
Are all true stakeholders included in this model: Sometimes this is more of a challenge to ensure, as it’s an error of omission. This is often best addressed by a steering committee or management team.
RACI matrix in project management
It is the above analyses, which are readily enabled by the use of a RACI matrix, that deliver the real benefit of the model. It is the integration of the model with a specific PLC that ensures that the project is structured for success. Without either component, problems with the structure of the project management process may remain hidden until (or even while…) they cause the project to bog down. Making the time and effort to create a customized PLC/RACI for each significant project is an opportunity to design your project management process for project success.