RACI Matrix V/S Ownership
Today, I am sharing with you all, one of my learnings. You may also find it a common situation in product developments and might have faced similar situations in your career, sometime. Please share your thoughts on this, which will help me further in my continuous learnings.
?Around 10 years back, when I was working on a complex product development, which had many cross functional dependencies (hardware to firmware and software including with vendors dependencies). All the associated teams were so brilliant, having exceptionally talented people onboard and focused fully on achieving their respective team’s delivery targets. Although, individually every team was able to achieve their own targets, but as a result, we failed to deliver the integrated solution to the customer, timely. ?
?If I see retrospectively, I find majorly two reasons for that failure.
1.?? Broader Vision/Picture was missing for the teams (although teams were clear on what is expected from their respective team, but the common goal was missing)
Knowing “Why†is much more important before we know “What†and “Howâ€. Certainly, having product townhall meetings, common release plannings meetings & cross teams DEMO can help in cascading the broader product vision of a team, but I think it’s not sufficient. Engineering owners and Product Owners must take the responsibility to make sure that their team understands Why are we developing this system? What does success mean to organization, what if we fail? Where does your work fit in the overall picture?? And of course, knowing your customer, their pain areas, better… etc.
领英推è
?2.?? We were driven by RACI Matrix (BTW which was the favorite style of project management at that time)
IMO, RACI driven organizations only lead MY v/s YOUR culture, which might be the biggest obstacle in bringing up the sense of ownership culture in the organization. RACI might be a safe way to play, to protect your teams in case of failures (as we did at that time ??), but this cannot lead greater level of collaboration among teams, which is utmost important to attain the organization goals. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your individual team interests/priorities and work towards achieving bigger goals.
?IMO, RACI can be given. RACI is not self-driven, it limits us to go beyond the boundaries, taking risks and initiatives. However, ownership is a self-driven leadership style, Ownership cannot be given, but you must take it. It is a success mantra, which leads great results. Thanks. Please share your thoughts.
?Sanjay Sharma
Vice President, Head of Engineering at ParTech, Inc.
1 å¹´Great article Sanjay Sharma! I'm not a huge fan of RACI myself. While intended to streamline who is responsible for certain decisions, what I've found in practice is that when team members see something not going right, the RACI becomes a limiting factor - its "not their problem" if they aren't actually Responsible in the RACI. This goes against a culture of ownership, in which we want people speaking up if something is not going well, if the goals of the project are not going to be met.
Senior Scrum Master / Agile Coach
1 å¹´Very well written and can relate to it 100 percent. Kepp sharing your experience and learning bhaiya Sanjay Sharma
CIO I Digital Strategy and Transformation | Tech M&A | IT Transitions | Industry 4.0
1 å¹´?? True
Chartered Accountant, Tax Professional, Passionate Writer & Lyricist
1 å¹´Superb.. thanks for sharing.. Agree with this.