--- title: "RACI for Managers: Ending Missed Tasks and Finger-Pointing" description: "RACI is the responsibility model behind COBIT, PMBOK and ITIL. Two rules prevent missed tasks and finger-pointing: every task has one owner, never two." --- [Skip to content](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/raci-for-managers#main-content) [![FutureFeed-White-Green-SupportCenter](https://support.futurefeed.co/hs-fs/hubfs/FutureFeed-White-Green-SupportCenter.png?width=400&height=99&name=FutureFeed-White-Green-SupportCenter.png)](https://support.futurefeed.co/?hsLang=en) - [HawkAI™ Support Home](https://support.futurefeed.co/) - [Knowledge Base](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base) - [Submit Ticket](https://support.futurefeed.co/support-forms) - [My Tickets](https://support.futurefeed.co/support?status=all&view=my_tickets&offset=0) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [HawkAI™ Support Home](https://support.futurefeed.co/) - [Knowledge Base](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base) - [Submit Ticket](https://support.futurefeed.co/support-forms) - [My Tickets](https://support.futurefeed.co/support?status=all&view=my_tickets&offset=0) FutureFeed's Knowledge Base - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [FutureFeed Support](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base?hsLang=en) 2. [Webinars and Features](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/webinars-and-features?hsLang=en) 3. [Features](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/webinars-and-features?hsLang=en#features) # RACI for Managers: Ending Missed Tasks and Finger-Pointing ### Two problems, one cause A task slips because nobody realized it was theirs. A deadline passes and two people each believed the other was handling it. Both have the same cause: nobody wrote down who owns what. RACI is the standard answer to that problem. It has been in use since the 1950s, and it is the responsibility model built into COBIT (the governance framework published by ISACA), the PMBOK Guide (the Project Management Institute's standard), and ITIL. It is not a FutureFeed invention. It is the way well-run organizations have assigned work for seventy years. This article covers the model itself: what the four letters mean, the two rules that prevent missed tasks and finger-pointing, and how to check that your assignments hold up. For the mechanics of assigning RACI inside FutureFeed, see [Mastering RACI in FutureFeed](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/hc/en-us/articles/14172715289876-mastering-raci-in-futurefeed?hsLang=en). #### The four roles RACI assigns one of four roles to each person involved in a task, a control, a tool, or a decision. | Letter | Role | What it means | How many per task | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | R | Responsible | Does the work. | One or more | | A | Accountable | Owns the outcome. Makes the final call. Answers for it when it goes wrong. | Exactly one | | C | Consulted | Is asked for input before the work is done or the decision is made. | As needed, kept few | | I | Informed | Is told when it is done or when something changes. Does not approve and does not do the work. | As needed | Responsible and Accountable are the two that matter. The others are communication preferences. A task with no C and no I is still a complete assignment. A task with no A is not. The difference between R and A is the one people most often get wrong. The Responsible person does the work. The Accountable person is the one you go to when the work did not get done. These can be the same person on a small team. On any team larger than two or three, they usually are not, and the gap between them is where tasks fall. A short example. Quarterly review of user accounts: the systems administrator is R (runs the report and removes stale accounts). The IT manager is A (owns the result and signs off that it happened). The HR lead is C (confirms who has left). The CEO is I (sees the completion). One R, one A, one C, one I. Nothing is ambiguous. ### The two rules Everything RACI does for a manager comes down to two rules. Every task has at least one Responsible person. Every task has exactly one Accountable person. The first rule prevents missed work. The second prevents finger-pointing. Each is worth examining on its own, because each fails in a different way. #### Rule one: no task without an owner A task with no A is a task nobody is answerable for. It may still get done, because someone noticed it or because it has always been done. It will stop getting done the first time that person is busy, on leave, or gone. This is how the missed task happens. It was never assigned to anyone. It was assumed. Everyone in the room knew it needed doing, and that shared knowledge felt like coverage. It was not coverage. Shared awareness is not the same as ownership. The fix is mechanical. Go through every task, control, and tool and confirm it has an A. If you cannot name one, that is the finding. Assign one now, or accept that the item is unowned and will be missed. Two common ways this rule gets quietly broken: - The A is a department, a committee, or "the team." A group cannot be accountable. When the task is missed, the group has no one to answer. Name a person or a job role held by one person. - The A is written down but the person was never told. An assignment the owner does not know about is not an assignment. #### Rule two: never two owners Two Accountable people on one task is worse than none. With none, at least everyone knows the task is unowned. With two, each believes the other has it. This is how finger-pointing happens. The task was assigned. It was assigned twice. Both people are honest when they say they thought the other one was handling it, because the record told them so. The record was wrong, not the people. It also produces a quieter failure. When two people can each sign off, a decision needs both of them, and it waits until the second one gets around to it. Dual accountability slows work even when nothing is missed. The usual reason it happens is politeness. Two senior people both care about the item, and listing both as A seems respectful. It is not. It leaves the item without a decider. The respectful move is to name one of them A and the other C, so the second person is consulted every time and accountable for nothing. When you cannot choose one A, the task is too big. Split it. A task that needs two owners is two tasks that each need one. "Manage vendor access" might become "Approve new vendor access" (owned by the security lead) and "Review vendor access quarterly" (owned by the IT manager). Each now has one A, and the split usually reveals that the two halves were already being handled by different people. ### How to check your assignments Lay your assignments out as a grid: one row per task, one column per person or role. Then read it twice, once across and once down. This is the original responsibility-charting method, and it catches both failures before they cost you anything. **Read across (one row at a time).** Each row is one task. Ask of each row: - Is there an A? None means an unowned task. Assign one. - Is there more than one A? Two means a future dispute. Pick one, or split the task. - Is there at least one R? None means nobody is doing the work. - Are there more than three or four Rs? That many doers means the task is really several tasks. Split it. - Are there many Cs? Every C is a person who must be asked before the work moves. Keep only the ones whose input changes the outcome.   **Read down (one column at a time).** Each column is one person. Ask of each column: - How many As does this person hold? One person accountable for forty items is accountable for none of them in practice. Redistribute. - Does this person hold any A at all? A senior person with no As is either in the wrong column or has been left out of the record. - Is this person C on nearly everything? That is a bottleneck. Decide which items truly need their input. - Is this person I on nearly everything? They are being copied, not managed. Trim the list.   | Finding | Reading | Fix | | --- | --- | --- | | Row with no A | Unowned task | Assign one person | | Row with two or more As | Future finger-pointing | Choose one A, make the others C, or split the task | | Row with no R | Nobody doing the work | Assign a doer | | Row with four or more Rs | Task too large | Split it | | Column with many As | Overloaded owner | Redistribute | | Column with no A | Person missing from the record | Add their items or confirm they own nothing | Do this once when you first build the assignments and again whenever the people change. ### **Keeping it true** A RACI assignment is a statement about the organization as it is today. People leave, roles change, and a task that had an owner in January has none in June. The record does not announce that it has gone stale. Three practices keep it true. **Assign to roles, not names.** "IT Manager" survives a resignation. "Dana" does not. When the role is held by a new person, every assignment transfers with the title and nothing has to be rewritten. **Review on a trigger, not a calendar.** The events that invalidate assignments are known: someone joins, someone leaves, someone changes role, a new system or process is added. Each of those is the moment to reread the affected rows and columns. A quarterly review in addition is reasonable. A quarterly review instead of trigger-based review leaves gaps of up to three months. **Tell people what they own.** An assignment lives in a record. Ownership lives in a person's head. The two are connected only if someone closes the loop. When an A is assigned or changed, the person is told, and the telling is as much a part of the assignment as the entry in the record. #### Where this lives in FutureFeed FutureFeed carries RACI on controls, tools, POA&M items, projects, and documents, so the grid described above is the same grid you are already maintaining. FutureFeed does not require an A on every item. The model does. Treat a blank A as a finding, not a default. The row check and column check map directly to the platform: filtering by a person shows their column, and any item's RACI section shows its row. For the steps to assign and edit RACI in the product, see [Mastering RACI in FutureFeed](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/hc/en-us/articles/14172715289876-mastering-raci-in-futurefeed?hsLang=en). #### Sources - ISACA, [RACI Light](https://www.isaca.org/resources/news-and-trends/isaca-now-blog/2020/raci-light), on RACI charts in COBIT 2019 - Project Management Institute, [Role and Responsibility Charting (RACI)](https://pmicie.org/files/22/PM-Toolkit/85/racirweb31.pdf) - University of Massachusetts Medical School via AAMC, [RACI Charting Basics and Analysis](https://www.aamc.org/media/43156/download), on horizontal and vertical analysis - CIO, [The RACI matrix: Your blueprint for project success](https://www.cio.com/article/287088/project-management-how-to-design-a-successful-raci-project-plan.html) - [CMMC Program - Regulation Guidance](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/cmmc-program-regulation-guidance?hsLang=en#main-content) - [CMMC Program](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/cmmc-program-regulation-guidance?hsLang=en#cmmc-program) - [Product Information](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Basic Pricing](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#basic-pricing) - [Advanced and Volume Pricing](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#advanced-and-volume-pricing) - [Features](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#features) - [Additional Details](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#additional-details) - [CMMC Express Pricing](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/product-information?hsLang=en#cmmc-express-pricing) - [How-to's](https://support.futurefeed.co/knowledge-base/how-tos?hsLang=en#main-content) - [How-to... 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