…in which we shall delineate and describe the people who compose the project team – their titles, their roles, and that for which they are most accountable. Also, the concept of a RACI diagram shall be introduced.
It takes a village to execute a project. Sometimes it feels more like a large city instead of a village, but the point is that projects are a team endeavor. But there are key people on every project, and while they may have different names in different organizations, they are pretty much among those listed below.
Executive Sponsor (ES) – This is the person who has ultimate decision making responsibility for the project, from a strategic level. That is, the Executive Sponsor is responsible for deciding if the project lives or dies, based on its alignment with the strategy of the business. The ES also has the power of the purse, deciding if there should be funding made available for the subject of the project. The ES must answer to the Board of Directors (or some equivalent senior leadership). The Board, in turn, must answer to the stockholders or owners of the company. (What about a small company that doesn’t have a Board or other owners? We’ll talk about that later.)
Sponsor – In every project, there are decisions that need to be made on a day-to-day basis. Whether it’s a decision about direction for a project at a crossroads, or a proposed change impacting timeline or money, or whether or not to activate a contingency plan, one person has the responsibility to determine the course of action. Acting with input from the project team, the Sponsor is responsible for making these decisions. If need be, they will “kick it upstairs” to the ES, but by and large, the Sponsor is responsible for reaching the goals for the project. It is also a common scenario to have a Steering Committee to advise the sponsor and help direct the project – but the Sponsor is responsible for the decisions.
Project Manager – The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), version 5, identified 47 (yes, forty-seven) different processes that are involved in project management. These are spread across five different phases, and each has inputs, processing, and outputs. It’s a lot. The Project Manager is responsible for all of these.
But put more simply, the PM helps identify what goes in the plan, develops the plan, and then ensures adherence to the plan. This is what all 47 of those processes are about.
Conceptually, the PM sits between two groups, the Customers (loosely) and the Work Team:
The PM takes the requirements from the customers (as relayed through the Sponsor), and then turns to the Work Team (via the Team Lead) and asks, “What needs to be done, how long will it take, and how much will it cost to accomplish these requirements?” The PM then goes back to the Sponsor and reaches an agreement on the preliminary scope, timeline, budget for the project. This is a negotiation – the Sponsor may have some constraints, and the Work Team may as well – and the PM is responsible for reaching the necessary middle ground. This is documented in the Charter, which is then signed off on by the Sponsors.
Team Lead – This is the individual who marshalls the resources needed to accomplish the work of the project. In reality, this could be several people, each leading a particular team. If all the teams report up to the same leader, that leader might be at the apex of the right-hand triangle. In a construction project, for example, that’s the General Contractor. In a software implementation, that might be a SPOC (Single Point of Contact) for the vendor.
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) – SMEs are, as the name suggests, experts in a particular subject that is of value to the project team. They can be on either the customer or work team side of the project. On the customer side, they might provide ideas and input as to the requirements for the project. On the work team side, they might have special insight into solutions and implementation questions.
Work Team Members – Generally, these are the people doing the actual work of the project. They might be coders, masons, accountants, testers, teachers, or marketing personnel. Whatever they do, they will have responsibility for accomplishing tasks as determined by the PM.
Every project needs to be a little racey. (Okay, it’s RACI.)
So what exactly is RACI, and why is it important?
RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.
For every task on a project, including the tasks that are part of managing the project, one person should be responsible. That person executes the steps to accomplish the task. They are responsible for the work involved. There should be only one! Granted, work may be done by a team, but ultimately there should only be one person responsible for completing the work.
The accountable person “owns” the task and sets the direction for the person responsible. As well, the accountable person determines when the task has been completed and meets the requirements set for it. This is communicated to the sponsors and the PM. Only one person is accountable for a given task. There should be only one!
Consulted people provide input both to develop the parameters of the task – time, budget, manpower, overall requirements – and those who help execute the task. The former includes the PM and the sponsors; the latter are subject matter experts and additional resources who contribute to the accomplishment of the task.
Informed people have an interest in the task – whether for their own status tracking purposes, to know when it’s done (because their task is dependent on it), or simply to ensure the project is continuing to move to their satisfaction. This can also include people responsible for financial oversight on the project.
RACI is often shown as a matrix or table. A RACI matrix should be developed in the early stages of a project’s planning – but it should be refined as additional requirements, tasks, and personnel come onto the project. Initially, the RACI matrix can have roles called out – “Team Lead,” “Executive Sponsor,” etc. As part of regular project management work, the roles should be amended with names of actual people, to give maximum clarity and accountability.
Understanding these different roles and responsibilities is an important aspect of getting organized and working on projects in an efficient manner!