How to use RACI charts to improve your content operation

A presentation at GatherContent webinar by Blaine Kyllo

We’re all in the content business, so words are important. Words matter. What words mean matters. But in the content business, this word has always been a problem. “Owner.” I’d like you to listen to something.

That was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti, performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which includes the exhilarating movement, “Ode to Joy”. Who “owns” that?

Well, it depends on what we’re talking about. The music itself was composed between 1822 and 1824, by which time the German genius was completely deaf. But the score is in the public domain, so nobody owns that.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The performance exists because of the efforts of the various musicians and the chorus. You could argue that they own their individual playing.

And there’s conductor and music director Riccardo Muti, who brings the various pieces together. What does he own?

It’s not easy to determine who owns that particular performance of Beethoven’s 9th. And as an audience, we don’t care. All we care about is that it sounds amazing.

Mediatonic/Devolver The same is true for your content. Your audiences, your users, don’t really care who owns it. And I’m going to explain why trying to identify a content owner in your organization is a fool’s errand.

WHO OWNS CONTENT? • Lines of business • Subject matter experts • Marketing and communications teams Going to the effort to assign an owner can be more trouble than it’s worth because in most organizations, nobody can agree on who should get authority to make decisions about content. Lines of business think they should own content because business goals depend on it. Subject matter experts know best how products and services work and the details around specific offerings. Marketing and comms teams are usually given control of content, so they figure it’s theirs.

Mediatonic/Devolver That leads to the situation where everybody thinks they own content … There are too many people trying to guide the orchestra.

The opposite situation is worse, because when nobody wants the baggage that comes with owning content, you end up with the musicians playing different songs at the same time. But you don’t solve these problems by telling somebody they own the content.

Mediatonic/Devolver Instead, you should ask: “Who needs to be involved in the content to make sure it’s effective?” When you ask that question, you see that there can’t possibly be a single person who “owns” content.

New York Zoological Society Writers create content. Writers are experts in knowing how to use plain language, and proper grammar and punctuation. But they don’t know everything. Trust me. I’m a writer. As much as I tell my kids I know everything, it’s just not true. Writers often don’t have the factual knowledge to know if what they’ve written is correct. And writers aren’t programmers, so they have no idea about the code behind the scenes that brings all the pieces together.

Mediatonic/Devolver Content that is effective, that has an impact, results from the efforts of multiple people, each with their own area of expertise. And if there’s one thing we know, it’s that letting experts do the things they are expert at is a key to success. But coordinating the effort of those experts is important. And that, I suggest, is what organizations are trying to do when they assign owners to content.

Mediatonic/Devolver And they want to know who to blame when things don’t work. But that doesn’t help us create, distribute, and manage good content.

Instead of assigning an owner, we want to make sure that everyone who plays a role in content understands exactly what they need to do. We can make that clear to everyone using a RACI chart.

R = responsible A = accountable C = consulted I = informed RACI is an acronym for “responsible,” “accountable,” “consulted,” and “informed.” These are the different levels of engagement that people can have with a particular task.

People who are RESPONSIBLE are the ones actually doing the work. People who are ACCOUNTABLE are the ones approving the work. They get final say. People who are CONSULTED are people who contribute in some way to the work being done. They have insights about the subject matter or the content channels or even other things happening that might impact the content. People who are INFORMED need to know when the work is completed. We can create a chart that allows us to assign these to various roles for the tasks or activities they do.

Consider the performance of Beethoven’s 9th. ROLES then TASKS or ACTIVITIES

Beethoven was responsible and accountable for writing the 9th symphony. If this was a contemporary composition, it’s possible that the producer might be informed about the writing of the music.

And while the musicians are responsible for playing the music, the conductor is accountable for that. If they play out of tune or out of time, the conductor is the person who cracks down.

The live performance, though, is the producer’s job. They are accountable for the work that everyone else has done. And while Beethoven isn’t alive to be informed that his symphony has been performed, that is something that normally would be communicated.

Writer(s) Translator(s) Product manager Subject matter experts (SMEs) Content strategist/ senior editor Write content R C C C A Revise existing content R C C C A Translate content C R C I A Content accuracy R R C A I Content completeness R R A C I Content quality R R C I A Tone and voice R R C I A Brand R R C I A Final approval C C C C A/R Activity Here’s an example RACI chart for the simple task of writing some copy about a new product that will be translated into other languages. This looks different in every organization, so don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t fit yours exactly.

ACCOUNTABILITY: BEST PRACTICE • Only one person is accountable, and there should always be one A for each task.

RESPONSIBILITY: BEST PRACTICE • One or more people need to be responsible for doing the work.

CONSULTED: BEST PRACTICE • Several team members may be consulted. This is two-way communication.

INFORMED: BEST PRACTICE • Several team members may be informed. Communication is one-way. If a person is providing feedback, they are being CONSULTED, not INFORMED.

You can use this same RACI framework for all kinds of things.

You can use a RACI chart to define roles and responsibilities for the way your organization implements content operations.

You can even use RACI charts to set up campaigns and projects. Depending on the size and scope, these charts can get very extensive.

The examples that I’ve given you so far have been using RACIs proactively, at the beginning of things, to get everybody on the same page before you start doing the content work. But they can also be used as a diagnostic tool, to determine where there might be breakdowns or opportunities to become more eﬃcient. One organization we worked with was transitioning to digital, and when they built their first RACI they realized they had four people doing the same job. Just look at the row for “email” where four different That used to make sense, because each of those people had responsibility for a particular magazine. But in a digital environment, those tasks could be collapsed for eﬃciency.

Here’s what the RACI looked like after the organization retooled. There’s a shared accountability between the content strategist, a new role, and the head of marketing.

Here’s an in-progress RACI for another organization we worked with that was having diﬃculty aligning the efforts of the Communications and Marketing departments and the writers that were kind of external to them both. This project is another example of how tricky it can be to coordinate content work when you’ve got traditional print operations in play, and the growing needs of digital platforms. For this project, I had the leads from each of the three teams give me their best assessment of their current-state RACIs. I was not surprised to see that they all had their departments accountable for the same tasks. While we worked on a new RACI for the combined teams, it was clear that everyone felt accountable because they had never talked about who really was.

HOW TO BUILD A RACI CHART Get people in a room with: • White board • Markers • Stickies So how do you create a RACI matrix? Whether you’re building a RACI to find eﬃciencies or to get your people aligned on how content operations work now, or you’re creating a RACI in advance of something new, the best approach is to get all of those people in a room to construct the grid. There may be arguments, but working through them will help get rid of all the tension that exists in your organization from arguments you haven’t had. And because you’re involving them in this process, and giving them a chance to contribute, you’ve got a better chance of them following it.

Mediatonic/Devolver Don’t worry about those people you think are going to be offended when they find out that nobody owns content. In our experience, most people are relieved when realize they aren’t expected to do things they aren’t expert at, and that an expert will be taking care of them. Clear roles and responsibilities are, for people working with content, liberating.

PROMISES, PROMISES • What a RACI is, and how to make one • How to use a RACI to support content stakeholders and align effort When I invited you to join this Gather Content webinar, I promised you a couple of things. I promised that I’d show you what a RACI is and how to create one. You now know that it’s as easy as creating a chart with roles across the top, and tasks down the side, and assigning appropriate letters for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. I promised that you’d learn how to support content stakeholders, and now you see that by creating a RACI and socializing it, everyone involved with content can see what they need to do and what others are doing.

PROMISES, PROMISES • Why having a “content owner” is not helpful • How to use a RACI to diagnose problems And when I started this talk, I promised you a couple of other things. I promised that I’d explain why trying to find someone to own content will not help with your content governance. Instead, you should identify the specific tasks that all people involved with content should be doing, and let people use their expertise. And you know that bringing together your content teams to create these charts with your current context in mind can tell you a lot about what’s going on in your content operation. Combine RACIs with content processes – which is a Gather Content webinar I delivered in the spring of 2019 – and you’re well on your way to having sophisticated governance.

video: TedMed Because with a RACI in place, you’ll be able to coordinate a group of people to make beautiful music, even when you’re faced with constraints like needing to use a single instrument. Because everybody knows exactly what they’re supposed to do.

From ContentStrategyInc.com: • How to use a RACI chart to define content roles and responsibilities • Content RACI templates CSI newsletter: • csinc.ck.page/8dccb01222 Visit our website at contentstrategyinc.com for more articles on content strategy, content governance, and content operations. Sign up for our newsletter!

I have a podcast that might interest you. Content in Practice is conversations with people doing the work of content about the challenges they face, and the solutions they’re implementing.

I’m Blaine Kyllo. It was a pleasure being with you.

Blaine Kyllo
@solocorps

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Deciding who owns content is always a contentious issue. Lines of business want to own content because business goals depend on it. Subject matter experts want to own content because they know best how the products and services work. Content teams want to own content because they are adept at content standards and guidelines, and knowing what types and formats will work best to solve problems.

What if they’re all owners?

In this presentation, delivered as a GatherContent webinar, Blaine shows you how you can help everyone involved with content understand what they’re supposed to do, and be liberated knowing that experts are going to take care of everything else.

How to use RACI charts to improve your content operation

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