2023 02 07 Role ownership mapped to RACI
newTeams peopleTool expectationManagement
What?
Usually RACI is a good tool to think of different levels of engagement. However, sometimes is hard to apply it to specific situations.
I've found this mapping from the W3C, to levels of ownership and decision making. I find it easier to apply when doing expectation managements.
(All the text below is a quote from the original article)
Primary Ownership = "Accountable"
Primary ownership aligns most closely with with "Accountable" (or "Approver" or "final approving authority") in a RACI matrix.
Primary owners typically:
- Drive the decision-making process
- Have direct interaction with the secondary owner(s) discussing issues
- Delegate the work to other roles or team members (as needed)
- Lead the task to completion
- Have final sign-off authority (if/when used)
- Are ultimately accountable for the outcome of taskpoint or design decisions
The last few points emphasize that the primary role is ultimately accountable. This is why there can only be one primary owner for each taskpoint.
Secondary Ownership = "Responsible"
The Secondary role most directly aligns with the RACI matrix "Responsible" (or "Recommender"). Unlike RACI, and since Primary owners are also responsible, there can be cases where there are no Secondary owners.
Secondary owners:
- Directly support the primary owner
- Are actively involved in the decision-making process
- Have active interest and participation in the outcomes
- May work to complete the task
- (but) Ultimately defer final decisions to primary owner
Contributor = "Consulted"
The Contributor role typically aligns with "Consulted" (or "Consultant" or "counsel") in a RACI matrix. In this model, the interaction from a Contributor is typically one-way, but could be two-way as in RACI. Like Secondary ownership, there are often taskpoints with no Contributors.
Contributors:
- Are not actively involved in the decision-making process
- Typically provide initial input or requirements
- May be asked to provide additional information
Contributors may have only limited participation by providing initial design input (such as branding guidelines or business requirements) with little or no subsequent interaction. In those cases the communication may be input only with little or no concern of being "informed" of the result (relying on the expertise of other owners).