Projects are led by people who need to know clearly what their responsibilities and roles are. This is a fundamental principle, without which no project can be fully realized. To conduct the process of allocating human resources to the project, many teams use the RACI methodology, which stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.
In each of these items, people are defined and how they will act. In the Responsible category, the people responsible for each activity are defined, which can be more than one person per task. In the Accountable category, you choose who will be accountable for that activity. In this case, only one person is appointed. For Consulted, consultants are chosen, people with more knowledge on the subject, responsible for providing important information for carrying out the activity. In this role, communication is essential. And in the last category, Informed, the people who have to be informed about the status and execution of each task are allocated.Using the methodology of this matrix, it becomes clearer who is responsible for the project and who the people involved are. To be even more efficient, it is advisable to have just one role for each person, unless the person responsible for the project is also the accountable person. If there is a need for more than one person per activity, consider splitting the activity into two smaller tasks.
Tip: At least have one person responsible and one person executing assigned to each row of the matrix.
The RACI methodology is very efficient when it comes to project planning, but in practice it can present some difficulties, such as: if the executor is absent on the day the activity is due to be delivered, who will carry it out? For this, a variation of the RACI matrix is recommended with the indication of substitutes in the event of absence or leave.
According to Priscila Nogueira, Stratec's director of strategic alliances, the best way to manage a project efficiently is to clearly define everyone's responsibilities, negotiating with each one individually. "The RACI tool helps to clearly define responsibilities, which is fundamental for the project and for reducing conflicts," she says.
Claudio Bastos, Stratec's business and project manager, in an interview for another article, drew attention to the causes of project success. "Many organizations today still delude themselves into thinking that the success of a project is to hand over a set of activities to a person with a "magic wand" who will be called the "project manager", without worrying about whether there is adequate planning and a monitoring and control plan compatible with the complexity of the project in question, so that risks can be identified and resolved. Without this, all that remains is to place the blame on the "magic wand", but as it is an imaginary element, the blame always falls on the person who has been appointed "project manager"," he jokes.
Priscila also points out that the main advantage of RACI is that it allows you to identify, in a very simple and straightforward way, who should be involved in a specific project or activity. The main challenge is how to use it within action plans, since we only have the responsible person field. "My suggestion is that the action plans contain actions that include consulting or gathering information from areas that have information (the "C" in RACI), validating the results of actions with areas or people who need to validate them, and disseminating them to areas or people who need to know the results of the actions (the "I" in RACI). In other words, include survey, validation and dissemination actions in the action plans. Another issue is that in order to work with the person responsible and the executor in the action plan, I usually recommend that the "what" contains the name of the person responsible (the "A" in RACI), and the "hows" have the name of the executor (the "R" in RACI). This way, it's somehow clear that the action as a whole has a person responsible who will be accountable for the work carried out by the others," explains Priscila.
Another important point that companies should consider when delegating project functions is collaboration between different areas. According to Priscila, it is important to negotiate not only with those responsible, but also with their hierarchies, so that, if necessary, project activities are prioritized within the area.
In addition, it is important that there is fluid communication between employees. "It's essential that everyone knows about the project and receives information about its progress, which can be done through visual management, publicity meetings, internal newsletters, intranets and personal contacts. Communication must be part of a communication program, where everyone can identify the corporate and personal benefits of implementing the project," warns Priscila.
Stratec's Strategic Management software makes it possible to monitor and manage projects in the organization. Within the software, it is possible to monitor action plans and project indicators, as well as guaranteeing corporate transparency insofar as the software makes crucial project information available in the management at a glance model. There is also a forum in the system where people can exchange ideas and opinions about what is happening within the organization or even propose suggestions for the project. Not to mention the automatic scheduling of meetings, which helps to remind and invite all the employees requested to the meeting, as well as informing them of the agenda.
