RACI chart
Definition
The visual grid representation of a RACI responsibility assignment, tasks or decisions in rows, stakeholder roles or individuals in columns, with each cell containing R, A, C, or I to indicate the type of involvement.
RACI chart and RACI matrix are used interchangeably in practice. When people say 'RACI chart,' they typically mean the visual grid artifact, the table you can hang on a wall, share in a doc, or photograph from a whiteboard. When they say 'RACI matrix,' they often mean the conceptual framework.
What a RACI chart looks like: A table. Columns are stakeholders or roles. Rows are tasks, decisions, or deliverables. Each cell is one of R, A, C, or I (or blank, if that role has no involvement). The chart is usually presented in a spreadsheet, a project management tool, or drawn on a whiteboard during planning.
When to draw it on a whiteboard: During kickoffs, project scoping sessions, and org design discussions. The whiteboard version is the working draft, the team negotiates who owns what in real time, then the final version goes into the project doc. The negotiation is the value; the chart is the output.
RACI chart variants: Some organizations use RASCI (adds a 'Supportive' role), DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributor, Informed), or CAIRO (adds 'Omitted' to explicitly exclude parties). The underlying concept, who owns what and how, is consistent across variants.
Snap the whiteboard RACI chart with BoardSnap. The AI reads the grid, identifies the cell values, and generates a responsibility summary organized by role, useful for sharing with stakeholders who weren't in the room.
Examples
- A project manager draws the RACI chart on a whiteboard at the kickoff, photographs it with BoardSnap, and shares the summary in the project Slack channel before lunch.
- A startup uses a RACI chart to document which co-founder owns which function, preventing overlap and gaps as the company scales.
- A design team uses a RACI chart to clarify who approves design decisions at each stage of the product development lifecycle.
- A consultant builds a RACI chart with a client leadership team to surface hidden accountability gaps before a major product launch.
Related terms
Snap a raci chart. Ship its actions.
BoardSnap turns any whiteboard, including this one, into a summary and action plan.