RACI Chart Template for Small Teams
By the SystemaFlow team · Updated November 2026 · Share this
The proposal was due on Thursday. Two people each assumed the other was writing it, a third had been asked to "have a look", and on Friday morning you wrote it yourself.
A RACI chart is a table that shows, for each task, who is Responsible for doing the work, who is Accountable for the result, who is Consulted before it's finished and who is Informed afterwards. You'll also see it called a RACI matrix, which is the same table under another name. For a small team, the part that matters most is having one Accountable person for each task.
It's a useful tool and an easy one to overdo. This post gives you a template to copy, a worked RACI chart example, the mistakes to avoid and a straight answer on when to skip it.
Here's the example we'll use. Tamberly Studio is a small design studio we made up for our training material, and Priya runs it. The people and the chart below are invented.
What do the letters in RACI mean?
| Letter | What it means | The question it answers | How many per task |
|---|---|---|---|
| R, Responsible | Does the work | Who's doing this? | One or more |
| A, Accountable | Answers for the result and signs it off | Who explains it if this goes wrong? | Exactly one |
| C, Consulted | Gives input before it's finished | Who do we need to ask first? | As few as you can manage |
| I, Informed | Gets told once it's done | Who needs to know? | Only people who'll act on it |
R and A are the two people mix up. R is about the doing and A is about the answering. In a business with eight people those are often the same person, so we write a single A to mean "answers for it and does it". Plenty of charts write A/R instead, and that works just as well if everyone reads it the same way.
One A per task is the usual working rule. It's a convention, and a sensible one: when two people both answer for something, each has a reason to think the other one's got it. It's the same gap we cover in why your team isn't following through.
Is a RACI chart the same as a RACI matrix?
Yes. "Chart" and "matrix" are two names for the same thing: a grid with tasks down the side, roles across the top and a letter in each cell. "Matrix" simply means a table of rows and columns. You'll also see it called a responsibility assignment matrix, a RACI table or a responsibility chart, and the format doesn't change.
So if you came here looking for a RACI matrix template, the template below is one. The only versions that really differ are those that add letters, such as RASCI, which adds S for Support. On a small team, the four letters are usually plenty.
RACI chart template (copy this)
Copy this into Word, Excel or Google Docs. Put the roles across the top and the tasks down the side. Each cell gets one letter, or stays blank if that role has no part in the task.
| Task (start with a verb) | Role 1 | Role 2 | Role 3 | Role 4 | Role 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task 1 | |||||
| Task 2 | |||||
| Task 3 | |||||
| Task 4 | |||||
| Task 5 | |||||
| Task 6 | |||||
| Load (count of A and R) |
The Load row is the one people leave off, and it's the quickest way to spot the person everything lands on.
To fill it in:
- Pick one process. It should have a clear start and finish, such as "new enquiry to first invoice". One chart per process.
- List the tasks. Start each one with a verb. We'd stop at around ten, because a longer chart rarely gets read.
- Add the roles. Use the role in the heading and put who holds it next to it, so the chart survives when someone moves on. One person can hold two roles.
- Write the As first. Every row gets exactly one before you add anything else. Then add the Rs, then the Cs and Is.
- Read it both ways. Across each row, look for one A and someone doing the work. Down each column, look for anyone carrying too much.
- Agree it with the people on it. A chart you filled in alone is only your opinion of who does what.
A RACI chart example: Tamberly Studio
This is a made-up example. It covers one process at Tamberly, from a new enquiry to getting paid.
| Task | Studio lead (Priya) | Projects (Marcus) | Enquiries (Aisha) | Client updates (Tom) | Finance (Grace) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reply to a new enquiry | I | A | |||
| Write the proposal | A | C | C | ||
| Plan the project work | I | A | C | ||
| Get final designs signed off | A | R | I | ||
| Send the client a progress update | C | A | |||
| Send the client invoice | I | C | A | ||
| Chase a late payment | I | A | |||
| Load (count of A and R) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Three things to notice.
Final designs show R and A doing different jobs. Marcus gets the work to the finish line, and Priya answers for it going to the client.
Marcus is Consulted on the invoice because he's the one who knows which jobs changed. Without that C, the invoice goes out wrong and nobody can say why.
The chart shows invoicing after it's moved to Grace. While that move is under way, Priya stays Accountable and Grace is Responsible. The A only changes hands when the handover's finished, which is why a handover document and a RACI chart work well together.
Does this job have exactly one Accountable?
Think of one real job that's gone wrong, or nearly did. Then answer honestly.
Check one job in four questions
Pick a single job, such as sending the monthly invoices or signing off a proposal.
If this job went wrong next week, who would have to explain it?
Can that person decide how the job gets done?
Is it clear who actually does the work?
How many people have to be asked before it's finished?
Answer in order and we'll tell you what to do.
This job has no Accountable
It's getting done on goodwill, and it'll stop the first time everyone's busy.
What to do: Choose one name today, tell that person and tell the people around them.
This job has too many Accountables
When two people answer for a job, each has a reason to assume the other has it.
What to do: Keep one A. Anyone else who does the work becomes an R, and anyone who only needs a say becomes a C.
The A is in name only
Someone's answering for a result they can't control. The real A is whoever does the overruling.
What to do: Either move the A to that person, or agree what the current A can decide without being overruled.
There's an A, but no R
Someone will answer for the job, and nobody's been told to do it.
What to do: Name who does the work. If it's the A, write that down too.
One A, but too many Cs
Ownership is clear, and the job will still move slowly. Every C is one more person to wait for.
What to do: Ask each C what they've changed in the last few rounds. Anyone who hasn't changed anything could become an I.
This job is in good shape
One person answers for it, they can decide, the work has a name on it and it won't wait on a crowd.
What to do: Try the same four questions on the job that's caused you the most trouble lately.
Common RACI chart mistakes
Two As on one task. This usually starts with a polite wish to avoid choosing. Choose anyway.
Writing "the team" or "everyone" in a cell. A group can't answer for anything. It has to be a role that one person holds.
Treating the owner of the business as the A for everything. Check Priya's column in the example. If yours is full of As, you've drawn a picture of the bottleneck. Delegation is the fix for that, and the chart only shows you where to start.
Too many Cs. Consulting people feels polite and costs time. Each C is someone the work has to wait for.
Informing people who don't need it. An I should change what someone does next. If it wouldn't, leave the cell blank.
Charting the whole business. A single chart for everything is too big to read and goes out of date quickly. Do one process, and do the one that hurts.
Filing it and forgetting it. People change jobs and the chart goes stale. Look at it whenever the process or the people change.
When RACI is overkill for a small team
We'd skip it more often than the template sites suggest. A RACI chart is there to untangle a job that several people touch, so a job with one or two people on it has nothing to untangle.
| Your situation | What we'd use |
|---|---|
| Three or four people, and everyone knows who does what | Nothing yet |
| You need to know who owns each job overall | A one-page list: job, one owner, one backup |
| One person does the job from start to finish, and it needs writing down | An SOP |
| A job passes through three or more people and keeps stalling | A RACI chart |
| Sign-off keeps being argued over | A RACI chart for that one process |
| Someone new is joining, and the work is being rearranged around them | A RACI chart for the processes that are changing, then onboarding |
A chart also won't make anyone do anything. It records what you've agreed. The steps, the trigger and the review still have to exist somewhere, which is the difference between a process and a system.
Want the full version?
When one process runs across several roles, the RACI Matrix in the Workflow Mapping and Optimisation pack lays every task against those roles, counts each role's load and runs six fixed checks, so every task has exactly one person answering for it. It's in the Systems for Scale Core Vault, as a done-for-you template in Word and PDF.
See what's in the Systems for Scale Vault →Or get all 352 systems, and every one we add later, with Masterworks: $999, paid once.
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Frequently asked questions
- What does RACI stand for?
- Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed. Responsible does the work, Accountable answers for the result, Consulted gives input before it's finished and Informed is told afterwards.
- Is a RACI chart the same as a RACI matrix?
- Yes. The two names are used for the same table of tasks against roles. You may also see it called a responsibility assignment matrix.
- Can a task have more than one Accountable person?
- The usual working rule is exactly one. Several people can share the work as Responsible, but when two people both answer for a result, each can assume the other has it.
- Can the same person be Responsible and Accountable?
- Yes, and on a small team it happens a lot. Some charts write A/R. Ours writes A on its own to mean that person answers for the task and does it too. Choose one way and keep to it.
- What's the difference between RACI and RASCI?
- RASCI adds S for Support: people who help the Responsible person with the work. On a small team, plain RACI is usually enough.
- Can I make a RACI chart in Word or Excel?
- Yes. It's just a table, so use Word, Excel, Google Docs or whatever your team already opens. Keep it somewhere everyone named on it can find it.
