A RACI template only works if you're willing to write down the uncomfortable truth: on some rows, the same name shows up twice. If you're filling in a raci template and one person is both doing the work and accountable for it, the honest answer is to mark them AR — and then ask a harder question. Is that because nobody else can do it, or because you've never handed it over?
That distinction is the whole job. A matrix full of AR rows isn't a role chart. It's a description of a queue with one person standing in it.
Key takeaways
- The AR combination is a legitimate entry when a small team genuinely has no second person available, and a bottleneck signal when the same person is AR on every row.
- Fill in the template row by row with real task names, not department names, because "operations" tells you nothing about who decides.
- Delegate the R and keep the A: the accountable person still owns the outcome and the escalation point, but stops being the hands on every task.
- Write a short SOP behind each task before you hand it over, so the new R knows what done looks like and when to escalate.
- Export the finished matrix so it lives outside your head and outside the tool.
Start with the rows, not the roles
Most people open a RACI template, see a grid, and start listing job titles across the top. That's the wrong order. The rows are the work. The columns are the people. If your rows say "Finance" and "Operations", you've built an org chart with extra steps and it will not settle a single argument.
Write down tasks and decisions specifically enough that a stranger could tell whether they happened. Not "expenses" — "approve expenses over the card limit". Not "scheduling" — "publish next week's shift roster". Not "escalations" — "handle a customer escalation that the rep can't close".
Here's the worked example we'll use throughout: a five-person operations team. One team lead, one senior rep, three reps. Three decisions keep landing on the lead. Let's put them in a matrix.
The before matrix: the lead is AR on everything
| Task | Team lead | Senior rep | Reps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses over the card limit | AR | C | I |
| Publish next week's shift roster | AR | C | I |
| Handle a customer escalation the rep can't close | AR | C | I |
The A means accountable — the one person who answers for the outcome and makes the final call. The R means responsible — the person who actually does the work. AR on one row says: this person does it and owns it. In a five-person team, that's often true. Somebody has to approve the expense, and if the senior rep doesn't have the authority, the lead is the only candidate.
So the AR mark itself isn't a mistake. What matters is the pattern around it.
What the rule-breaking flags actually catch
The RACI generator flags rows where the AR combination appears, and it flags rows with no A at all, rows with more than one A, and rows with nobody marked R. Treat the flags as questions, not verdicts. The tool doesn't know your team. It knows the rules people keep breaking without noticing.
The AR flag is asking you one thing: is this combination a capability gap or a delegation gap?
A capability gap is real. Three reps, one senior rep who is still learning the approval policy, and a lead who is the only person with the authority to sign off. Until someone else is trained and authorised, the lead is AR and that is simply the truth of the team as it stands.
A delegation gap is different. The lead is AR because handing over the task means writing down how it's done, and writing it down feels slower than just doing it. So the lead keeps doing it. The flag is pointing at the thing you've been avoiding.
The test: is the lead AR on every row?
Here's the diagnostic that matters more than any single flag. Look down the A column. If the same person holds A on every row, you don't have a RACI matrix — you have a bottleneck with a spreadsheet around it. Every decision in the team routes through one desk, and that desk is now the team's throughput limit.
The cost shows up as waiting. Reps wait for an approval. The roster waits for a signature. An escalation waits because the lead is in a meeting about the last escalation. None of that appears in anyone's timesheet, which is exactly why it survives so long.
Now look down the R column. If the lead also holds R on most rows, the problem doubles. The lead is both the decision point and the labour, so delegating the decision doesn't help unless the work moves too. You have to move both letters, and you have to move them deliberately.
The corrected matrix: delegate the R, keep the A
The fix is not to strip the lead of accountability. Accountability is the thing you want to keep, because it's the escalation point when the new responsible person hits something they can't resolve. What you hand over is the R.
| Task | Team lead | Senior rep | Reps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses over the card limit | A | R | C |
| Publish next week's shift roster | A | R | C |
| Handle a customer escalation the rep can't close | AR | C | I |
The lead stays A on all three. The senior rep picks up R on expenses and the roster, with the reps now consulted rather than merely informed — they have the shift preferences and the expense context, so their input is worth capturing before the decision. The escalation row stays AR, and that's the honest call: escalations are the lead's job by definition, and inventing a second owner there would be theatre.
That's the shape of a healthy small-team matrix. Not every AR removed. Just the ones that were there by habit.
Write the SOP behind each handed-over task
Handing over an R without instructions is how the task comes straight back. Before the senior rep takes the expense approval, write the few lines that make it a real handover: what the limit is, what evidence they need before approving, how long the turnaround should be, and precisely when to escalate to the lead.
A few lines become a standard operating procedure. It doesn't need to be elegant. It needs to answer the question the new R will ask at the moment they're stuck, so they don't have to ask you. Write it behind every task where you moved the R, and keep it attached to the row.
This is the step people skip, and it's the step that decides whether the delegation survives its first busy week.
Export it and put it where people can see it
A matrix in a tab nobody opens changes nothing. Export the final version as a PDF, CSV, or text, and put it where the team already looks. The PDF is the one to share; the CSV is the one to revisit when the team changes shape.
Quick checklist
- List tasks and decisions specifically enough that a stranger could verify they happened
- Mark every row with exactly one A before anything else
- Flag every AR row and ask: capability gap or delegation gap?
- Delegate the R on tasks a senior rep can own, and keep the A with the lead
- Write a short SOP behind each handed-over task, including the escalation trigger
- Export as PDF and share it where the team already looks
You can work the whole example yourself in the free RACI matrix generator at https://tools.exiuss.com/raci-matrix — list your roles and tasks, click a box to cycle through blank, R, A, AR, C and I, and let it flag where the matrix breaks the rules. Then export it and hand it out. The matrix is only worth the clarity it creates on the day the lead is unreachable.