Be Aware Of Who Is Doing What

With many smart minds coming together to solve a problem at hand one big chunk of work is divided into many modules and through the essence of team work the solution is delivered but quite often this leads to queries like what is my scope of work, I was assuming someone else was doing this bit, I was hoping you will approve etc.

To avoid this ambiguities of "someone" "who", "which team" kind of scenarios many project implementations adapt a strategy called RACI Matrix which is an acronym for “Responsible,Accountable,Consulted and Informed” matrix where every team member/group is clearly assigned their roles and defined set of actions. Through this RACI Approach the ownership is clearly defined at initial stages which avoids lots of confusions/delays/clashes during the course of the project implementation.

I will be considering key roles and various different common activities which are performed during the implementation of IBM ODM (Operational Decision Management) project to define a RACI Matrix so there will be three parts, one understanding what is RACI, second what are the roles and activities of ODM and the last bringing parts one and two together to make a meaningful RACI matrix.This matrix is not a standard fit-all kind of model, it is provided here just as reference which should be customized based on the project needs.

For successful implementation of RACI Matrix, we should be very clear of what every letter stands for and what are key actions pertaining to them.

1. Responsible: The person with this role is the one who actually does the necessary work to ensure the task assigned is completed. It is ideal to assign only one person for this role.
2. Accountable: This party is responsible for the outcome of the work in terms of quality and adhere to deadlines. It is ideal to assign only one person for this role so there wont be any waiting time or confusions to take crucial decisions.
3. Consulted: This role can be assigned to an individual or to a group which are subject matter experts in terms of technically or to the industry domain related to the activity/task considered.
4. Informed: This role or group is one of stakeholders of the activity who are to be kept in loop about the status of the activity/task considered.More like the guys in Cc list of your emails :P

So now the idea is to assign every task/activity considered against the different individuals/groups these R,A,C, I conventions which gives us a beautiful pictorial matrix which acts as quick reference.

Best practice for RACI implementation suggested by experts are:

1. It is ideal to have RACI roles for every task/activities considered. If not it is mandatory to have R and A for sure.
2. It is important to distribute RACI roles by the skill-set of the team to the activity/task considered. Mismatch will beat the purpose.
3. If there are many dependencies on C and I roles then clear strategy to be adopted for better ways of communication as usually people with these roles will be associated with many projects.
4. Tasks considered for RACI should be very specific and better to avoid routine To-do list which will add redundancy.

For convenience I am briefing the different stakeholders of IBM ODM project and key responsibilities of the same.

• Architect: Person who designs the solution, provides the project structure and optimization of rule execution. Primarily Subject Matter Expertise.
• Developer: One who develops the execution model and business model of the solution.
• Administrator: One who ensures the application is deployed and helps in monitoring and auditing the same.
• Business Analyst: One who acts as bridge between the business and the technical group and translates the requirement.
• Tester: One who ensures the developed solution is working as expected and ensures the quality assurance of the deliverable.
• Product Owner/Policy Maker: The owners of the decisions within an organization for the solution which is being developed.Primarily Subject Matter Expertise.

Follow this link to familiarize yourself with IBM ODM, key roles and activities in detail.

Presenting you all the chart or the matrix which I was speaking all about, the RACI Matrix for IBM ODM.

So this is how the ‘WHO’ part in the IBM ODM implementation can be easily known.

Hope this article was helpful to introduce you the concepts of RACI from IBM ODM’s perspective. As stated there is no one definitive approach/chart and I would like to know how this concepts are used in your project/organization.

Do comment your opinions and I am eager to know the same.