10. RACI is The Wrong Answer To The Right Question

The RACI matrix (as well its cousins DACI, DARCI, etc.) aims to neatly categorize stakeholders into roles—who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for every decision your team makes. We spend a lot of time filling out those RACI boxes, because it’s supposed to give us order and predictability—a single source of truth for all future choices. We’re all about achieving real clarity, but we often see RACIs treated as a one-and-done exercise, rather than something that evolves with a team. People end up in the “R” or “A” space without having the actual authority to execute a role, and then we make those roles the fall guy for a system never set up for them to succeed. In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore the good intentions that lead us to make RACIs in the first place, where they fall flat, and why decision making is always more complicated than what can be captured on a chart. Interested in learning more about Depthfinding and the ocean framework? Head here. Mentioned references: Responsibility assignment matrixes (such as RACI, DACI, and DARCI) DARE model MacGuffin DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) SPOA (Single Point of Accountability) "traditional consulting ep": AWWTR Ep. 8 "future tension": BNW Ep. 16 with Thomas Thomison "scenario planning": BNW Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter. We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air. We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]. Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

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