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.