RACI
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed—clarify decision roles.
Explanation
Most workplace conflict stems from confusion about who's responsible for what decisions. The RACI matrix eliminates this by clearly defining roles: Responsible people do the actual work, Accountable people own the final outcome (and there can only be one per task), Consulted people provide input before decisions are made, and Informed people are updated afterward.
Real-World Example
Product launch chaos. Why? Three people thought they were accountable. Five thought they should be consulted on everything. RACI clarified: PM accountable, Eng responsible for build, Design consulted on UX, CEO informed of progress. Chaos → Clarity.
How to Apply
List all decisions/deliverables vertically. List all roles horizontally. Fill matrix. Rules: Only one A per row. Minimize C's (slows everything). If everyone's C, no one is. If someone is always I, why are they on team? Review when reorgs happen. Post publicly.