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What is a RACI Chart? Process, Template, & Examples

Struggling to keep track of who is in charge of what on a project? Learn how to create a RACI chart for your project and reduce confusion and increase accountability. Plus, get our template to start right away!

RACI charts are used to identify exactly who is responsible for what on your project. Without it, you and your team will run into confusion about task assignments, who to ask questions to or consult with, and who will give final approval.

In this article, I’ll unpack RACI use cases and share tips and tricks for using it effectively. Plus, find out how to access our RACI chart template .

What Is A RACI Chart?

A RACI chart is a project management tool that identifies roles and responsibilities for tasks within a project. It's used to plan roles and responsibilities in advance, so everyone knows who is responsible for what.

Use your RACI throughout the project to keep track of which team members are responsible, accountable, consulting, and informed on tasks and deliverables. Store it in your project management software for easy access.

What does the acronym RACI stand for?

• Responsible
• Accountable

The RACI maps tasks and deliverables against roles on your project, and decision making and responsibilities are allocated to each role using the above terms. So let’s look a little further at what each of these terms mean.

But first, a quick interlude:

Responsible: Doing The Task 

This person actions the task or deliverable. They are responsible for getting the work done or they are the decision-maker.

Try to have only one person responsible for a particular task or deliverable in your responsibility assignment matrix. Sometimes, the responsible party will need support from another person to complete the task, or they may need someone to delegate to. In this case, you can mark more than one person as responsible. 

If you have a lot of support personnel involved in different tasks, consider using an adapted version of the RACI chart called the RASCI chart, where the S indicates who is supporting the task or project.

If you have a lot of support people working together, collaboration tools keep everyone on the same page and working towards a common goal.

Accountable: Owning The Task

This role is accountable for the completion of the task or deliverable. They probably won’t do the work themselves, but they're responsible for making sure it’s finalized. Ideally, there should be one accountable person rather than a group to avoid confusion in terms of who actually owns the task. 

A great example of the accountable role is the manager of the team assigned to the work. If the team doesn’t complete the tasks assigned, the manager is accountable. 

Consulted: Assisting with Information & Knowledge

This person, role, or group will provide useful information for completing the task or deliverable. There will be two-way communication between those responsible and those consulted. This person is often a subject matter expert.

Informed: Keeping Aware

These people or groups will be kept up to date on project progress or snags the team hits along the way. The informed party won’t be asked to give feedback or review specific items, but they will be informed as appropriate. There is typically one-way communication to these roles or groups.

Watch more coverage of RACI charts here!

When To Use A RACI Chart

Is a RACI chart useful across all projects? The short answer is no. Throwing in too much complexity and process to some small and fast-moving projects can actually slow things down and create blockers. 

Here are some scenarios where RACI charts are useful:

• Larger projects with multiple stakeholders : Without a RACI on larger projects, you risk situations where people ask why they weren’t involved or you find there’s another layer of approval needed. On smaller projects, people are clearer on assignments and a RACI slows the project down.
• Projects with uncertainty about responsibilities : When you're not sure about responsibilities, create a RACI and make educated guesses about assignments. Get approval from your stakeholders, or use it as a starting point for a discussion.
• Waterfall projects : Agile methodologies are clear about responsibility and accountability: the project team is responsible and the product owner is accountable. Waterfall projects tend to have more stakeholders and complexity, making a RACI chart more useful.

RACI Chart Example: Real Life Case Study

Here's an example RACI chart I created for a project involving the set up of a loyalty program for a fashion brand.

As you can see, there are a fair few tasks and deliverables, as well as stakeholders. As I was creating this RACI, I came across a few conflicts:

• There were a lot of stakeholders client-side and internally. I kept this chart to mainly client-side stakeholders with the agency holding one role , as we had a small team on our side. The RACI was mainly for the benefit of managing the external stakeholders.
• For the senior stakeholders, I grouped them instead of naming them individually . We identified the core team of senior stakeholders and then the wider team so they weren’t all merged together, but I still kept them in groups to keep things simpler.
• I assigned accountability beyond the client-side produce owner this to avoid creating a single point of failure and a silo . I discussed this with them to ensure they agreed to the approach, but there was still a tendency for the product owner to be accountable for quite a few tasks.

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Pros and Cons of RACI Charts

Here are a few of the benefits and drawbacks of using a RACI chart on your project.

RACI Chart Benefits

RACI charts can help with the following:

1. Clearer Expectations

RACI charts set expectations for who is managing or responsible for work. It can help eliminate confusion by clarifying who is accountable, and it's useful for setting expectations with senior stakeholders who are informed about what type of information they will receive.

2. Streamlined Communication

You can refer back to the RACI throughout the life cycle of a project , which will help avoid involving every single person in every single decision. The RACI tells you when to involve the right people at the right time, which speeds up sign-offs and decision making.

3. Reduced People Overload

You know what when you get opinions from everyone and it becomes a nightmare trying to incorporate it all? This is where a RACI is useful. By having the distinction between consulted and informed, you can separate those involved in feedback, and those that are only updated on task progress.

4. Reduced Work Overload And Silos

A RACI chart is a useful tool to help project managers delegate and avoid taking on a lot of responsibility or covering multiple roles, thereby reducing burnout . It also mitigates against having a single point of failure, where all knowledge and responsibility for a specific task rests on one person, creating silos.

Common RACI Pitfalls And How To Avoid Them

There are many pitfalls to be careful of when creating a responsibilities matrix, and they are time-consuming and are often ignored after approval. Here are a few things to watch out for and ways to mitigate them:

1. Project Manager As The Catch All

Often the default can be to think the project manager (or product owner) is the person or role responsible for everything. Since they are delivering the project they are ultimately delivering everything within it. 

Think about where the producers of work should be responsible (ex. designers, developers, heads of departments), and assign the work accordingly.

2. Confusing Responsible And Accountable

The terms responsible and accountable are quite close in definition which can lead to confusion. Here's the main difference:

• You are responsible for a task if it is your job to complete the task. It's on you to get it done. 
• You are accountable for a task if it is your job to ensure the task is completed. You might not do it yourself, but you are accountable for it getting done. 

Here's an example: You are staying at a nice hotel on a business trip. The housekeeping manager is accountable for ensuring your room is clean and prepared for your arrival, but they likely won't clean your room themselves. A member of their staff is likely responsible for actually doing the cleaning.

3. Tension Between Consulted and Informed

Consulted has positive connotations, and people assigned this role will feel more included and trust that their feedback will be incorporated. This can cause tension for people that are informed, as they might feel out of the loop.

Consider if the people that you are planning to inform actually need to be consulted. If this isn’t the case, ensure they know the role of informed is typically a one-way information share; they should not be giving feedback.

How To Create A RACI Chart In 6 Steps

In the graphic below, I’ve summed up the six steps to make a RACI chart:

The lovely Meghan McInerny gave a talk at Digital PM Summit 2017 , and made the genius suggestion that the Lord of the Rings is actually a successful project, and the Fellowship is a team. So to make this a little easier to get, let’s use that project as an example. What’s the project? To get the ring to Mordor and Mt Doom.

Step 1: Identify Project Roles

Create a table listing out the names of everyone involved in the project at the top. Traditionally, RACI charts list the functional roles along the top. However, I think there are cases when using names is better, and that’s often my preference.

Reasons to specify by role:

• If a single person is fulfilling multiple roles
• It avoids the need to update with a change in personnel
• It avoids having a mix of names and broader groups ex. ‘customer’ or ‘department X’

Reasons to specify by name:

• It’s simpler to define who is involved in the project
• It's easier when multiple people are fulfilling similar roles

Step 2: Identify Project Tasks Or Deliverables

Break the project down into clear tasks and deliverables. Put these down the left hand column of your chart. Try not to go too granular or else the chart could become too complex. If you’re following a clear list of deliverables for the project, consider listing these.

Step 3: Assign The RACI To Each Role And Task

Work through each task and decide what each role should be responsible for. Every task should have someone responsible and accountable (only one person should be accountable). Think about who should be consulted whilst the task is ongoing, and who should be informed once it's complete.

In our LOTR RACI example, Frodo is responsible for getting the ring to Mordor. Gandalf, as leader of the Fellowship, is accountable. However, Sam helps Frodo along the way—he is consulted, i.e. actively involved.

Step 4: Agree on This With Your Team

Align on any assumptions you have made with your team members, and do not do this in a silo. Have a quick chat through how you’ve set up the RACI, and make sure everyone is happy with their roles and responsibilities on the project.

Step 5: Agree on This With The Core Project Stakeholders

Set up a call or meeting to agree on this with the key stakeholders. Try to keep this as lean as possible to avoid unwieldy feedback and time-consuming discussions. Think about who this also needs to be communicated with once it’s agreed to.

Step 6: Make It Useful Throughout The Life Of The Project

Now I can put my RACI aside and focus on getting on with my project, right? Well, no. This is one of the biggest issues with documents like a RACI: once created they are often forgotten So how do you make this a useful, working document?

• When you action a task or deliverable, refer back to the RACI and align on who is responsible for what.
• Make sure that what was set out at the beginning of a project, and the roles and responsibilities against tasks, are still accurate.
• Host a version online, using Google Docs or Confluence , or the project management software used in your organization. If you're using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, save it in a place that everyone has access to.
• At the end of a project, use the RACI to see how the assigned roles and responsibilities worked. Did you need as many people involved? Did the people responsible do the task, or did more people need to be involved? Were people consulted and informed at the right times?

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RACI Matrix Template & Sample

I’ve developed a RACI matrix template for you to download. You’ll also find a sample, checklist, and a cheat sheet. The template automatically populates the colors based on your entries. Feel free to adjust the colors to your liking!

This template is available through DPM membership. Become a member and get access to the RACI chart template , as well as 100+ other templates, samples, and examples for project documentation. You'll also be able to join the conversation about RACI charts (and more) in Slack with 100+ other digital project managers.

RACI Chart Best Practices

• Make sure having a RACI is going to be beneficial for the project, and think about how the RACI will be used and why. Avoid creating a RACI chart just for the sake of it .
• Make sure you understand the terms, and take time to educate others . Whether you choose RACI or one of it's alternatives (more below), spend time educating the team on each term and what it means. It's a helpful reminder for those already in the know and anyone new to the project will be thankful you clarified.
• Make sure that only one role is marked as accountable . A group is not accountable, a person is. Assigning multiple people causes confusion and slows down the slow decision-making process, project workflows, and approval processes.
• You don’t have to inform everyone . Informed includes those that the task or deliverable will have an impact on, or those with a vested interest. The project likely has a set of high-level stakeholders that need to be informed, but you don’t need to capture those details in a RACI (leave that to the stakeholder management plan ).
• Don’t create the RACI chart in isolation . Get core project stakeholders and project team members to provide input. Draft it yourself and then let your stakeholder review.

What Are The Alternatives To A RACI?

Here are a few other types of RACI charts and why they might be used.

Probably the most used alternative to the RACI, the RASCI chart stands for: responsible, accountable, supportive, consulted, and informed. Team members in the supportive role help the one responsible. The differentiation between supportive and consulted is that consulted will give information, whilst supportive will actively participate in the task.

CARS is specific to actions, and like the RASCI, adds in the support role when tasks aren’t completed by one role or person. Advocates of the CARS model say it eliminates unnecessary information from the RACI. It stands for:

• Communicate : both consulting and informing
• Approve : the approver who makes the decisions
• Responsible : the person doing the work (same as RACI)
• Support : the people helping the responsible person with the work

Some think the RACI model assigns terms which are pretty obvious—i.e. accountable is often the project manager or product owner—and inform generally includes a wider range of stakeholders in the project?

I like the simplification of this one, as it keeps the terms to responsible, approve, and support. However, it doesn’t account for the owner of the task which could create confusion.

Relatively similar to the RACI diagram, but swaps responsible for drivers and accountable for approvers, making the descriptions more action-oriented. This serves to clarify what those roles will do, clearing up confusion that might come with the RACI matrix.

A variation on the DACI which also focuses more on the actions involved rather than team roles. CLAM stands for contributes, leads, approves, and monitors.

Overall, a lot of the variations on the RACI define the terms with more clarity, or specifying actions to remove ambiguity between roles. There isn’t a huge amount of difference between the models in terms of what they are trying to achieve. If you're interested in other flavors of RACI, you can find out about RACI 2.0 here .

What's Next?

For more help managing projects and leading teams, take our Mastering Digital Project Management course . It covers the entire project life cycle from initiation to closure, and also covers a wide range of project methodologies that help achieve project success.

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View your team's work with Team Planner

Project managers may struggle with seeing clearly and quickly what their team is doing at any given point in the project schedule. Project managers may also struggle with finding a quick and painless way to do something about problems that they discover.

Note:  Team Planner is a feature available only with Project Professional.

Welcome to the Team Planner, a feature that gives project managers greater visibility into, and control over, their team's work.

What do you want to do?

View team work, move a task to a different time in the schedule, fine-tune your schedule using the team planner view, customize the team planner.

On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, choose Team Planner .

The Team Planner appears. One row is displayed for each resource in the project. On the left, resource names appear. All of the tasks that a resource is assigned to appear on the same row on the right. Resource tasks that don't have a start date or end date also appear on the left next to the resource name.

Tasks that are not assigned to anyone appear at the bottom.

Tip:  If you use agile project management as your organization's project scheduling methodology, use the unassigned tasks as your "backlog" of tasks that are waiting to be assigned to resources in future sprints.

1. A completed task. This task is a completed task with 100 percent actual work. It cannot be moved using Team Planner.

2. Two tasks assigned to same person. The top task is automatically scheduled and partially completed (indicated by the color change on the bar). The bottom task is manually scheduled. Both are scheduled at the same time to the same person. The resulting overallocation is indicated by red lines. Either of these tasks can be moved to a different time in the schedule (or to a different person) to resolve the overallocation.

3. An unscheduled task. This task is assigned to a specific person, but it doesn't have enough scheduling information to become a scheduled task. For a task to be scheduled (and thus move to the right side of the view), it has to have at least two of the schedule settings set. For example, if the duration and start date is set (but no finish date), the finish date will be automatically set and it will become a scheduled task. Similarly, if it has a start date and end date set (but no duration), it will also become a scheduled task. If only the start date is set, it will remain an unscheduled task.

4. Unassigned tasks. This task has not been assigned to anyone. It can be assigned by dragging it to a person's schedule in the right section. To keep the task unscheduled but assigned to a person, drag it vertically to a person's name in the upper-left section.

Tip:  The color of the task gives you useful information about its scheduling state. For example, portions of the bar that are darker blue indicate actual work. Green tasks are manually scheduled.

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There are different reasons why you might want to move a task. Someone might be assigned too much work, or perhaps you want to reassign work to a different person. Or maybe you discover that no one is working on an important task. Team Planner will handle all of these problems, and much more.

Using Team Planner, rescheduling a task is as simple as dragging it somewhere else.

1. Moving a task vertically to resolve an overallocation. You can move tasks for a resource that is working on two tasks at the same time.

2. Moving a task vertically to assign new work to a person. Work that is not assigned to a person can be assigned to someone by dragging and dropping.

3. Moving a task horizontally. A task can be scheduled to worked on at a later time in a person's schedule.

Here are other ways you can use the Team Planner.

	A person's nonworking time will appear as gray vertical bars. Double-click the vertical bars to see more details about the nonworking time.
	To get a higher level of detail about task and project information, roll up information on Team Planner. On the tab, in the group, select the level of detail by choosing and then an outline level. When tasks are rolled up, the highest-level task will appear as a single bar.
	Hold down CTRL while clicking multiple resource or task names. You can also drag the mouse over multiple items to select them.
	You can navigate through items in Team Planner using the arrows keys. To move a highlighted task, use CTRL + arrow. To scroll the view, use ALT + arrow.
	Dragging a task to the edge of the Team Planner will automatically cause the view to scroll. In this way, you can drag a task further into the future (or past) without having to release the mouse button.
	Hover over a task to read important and useful information about how it is being scheduled. Tooltips can help you make important scheduling decisions.

Assuming you've read other sections in this article, you are now fairly familiar with how to move tasks in the Team Planner. Most things you can do in the Gantt Chart and other views you can do in the Team Planner as well. This section covers other things you can do in the Team Planner to get more done in less time.

	To change a task from being automatically scheduled to manually scheduled, right click a task, and then select or .
	On the tab, choose . When this setting is on, if moving one task would create a conflict with another, the second task will be automatically moved to prevent any overallocations.
	Right-click the task bar to choose . Inactivating a task doesn't delete it from the project, even though the task will disappear from the Team Planner. It does prevent the task from having actuals reported on it.
	The easiest way to reassign a task is by dragging it to another person. You can also right-click a task, and then click . This is especially useful if you want to maintain the same dates.
	To change the name of the task or other properties (such as constraint type outline codes, deadline dates, or task types), double-click the task. You can also double-click the resource name to view and change resource information.
	For advanced project managers who are comfortable with the traditional split (or combination) view, you can show more details in a separate bottom pane. On the tab, in the group, select . The bottom pain displays detailed information about the selected task and resources assigned to the task. You cannot use a timescaled view, such as the Resource Usage or Task Usage views, along with Team Planner in a combination view. To view a timescaled view along with Team Planner, open a new window, and then arrange the windows horizontally. To do this, on the tab, in the group, choose .

You can change the way the Team Planner appears to suit your needs and to make the view more attractive.

	On the tab in the group, pick the bar type you want to change, and then select either or . Individual bars can also be modified.
	On the tab in the group, select a number of lines using the list.
	Use the Zoom Slider in the lower-right part of the Project window to change how much time is displayed in the right side of the view.
	Right-click in a blank area of the right side of the view (not on a task), and then choose .
	Choose the down arrow on the column, and then select , , or for defined or custom filters.
	You can hide the columns for unscheduled and unassigned tasks. On the tab in the group, select the type of column you want to show or hide from view.
	Drag the vertical and horizontal borders between the sections to change the size of the sections.

Tip:  If you've customized the Team Planner considerably, you can save a version of the customized view into a separate view. On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, select the bottom half of the Team Planner button, and then choose Save View .

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Free Project Organizational Templates: Management and Team Structures

By Kate Eby | June 1, 2021

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We’ve compiled the most effective project organization templates for project sponsors, steering committees, project managers, and project team members. Plus, get tips on creating useful project organizations for your unique projects. 

Included on this page, you’ll find seven essential project organization templates, including a project organization chart template , a project management organizational structure template , a project team organizational chart template , and a matrix project teams org chart template .

Project Organization Chart Template

Download Project Organization Chart Template

Microsoft PowerPoint | Microsoft Word | Google Slides

Use this simple, reusable project organization chart template to create an organizational structure that defines the relationships between team members on projects and programs . This template includes sections for a project’s steering committee, sponsor(s), manager, and additional team members, and is available in Microsoft Word and Google Docs as an individual project organization chart template, as well as in PowerPoint as a shareable presentation template. 

To learn more about project organizational chart templates in Microsoft Word and see reports, read “Free Organizational Chart Templates for Microsoft Word.”

Project Management Organizational Structure Template

Download Project Management Organizational Structure Template 

Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word 

Use this simple project management organizational structure template to clearly define project structure roles for your individual projects. Customize the project’s roles by entering compiled-by and date-completed information, as well as other details about your team members. Download and share this project-by-project template for one-off projects, or save and reuse it for interrelated projects. 

To learn more about project organizational chart templates in Microsoft Excel, see “Free Organizational Chart Templates for Microsoft Excel.”

Project Team Organizational Chart Template

Download Project Team Organizational Chart Template

Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word  

Use this visually rich project template to show the organizational structure of your project-specific team to coworkers, clients, and other stakeholders. Designed with space for photos of each team member, this personable report keeps everyone apprised of your project team members’ roles, and familiarizes all relevant personnel with a project’s key players. 

To learn more about creating org charts in Microsoft Excel, see “How to Create Organizational Charts in Microsoft Excel in Minutes.”

Matrix Project Teams Org Chart Template

Download Matrix Project Teams Org Chart Template

Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word

Use this matrix project teams org chart template to keep the members of your team and other stakeholders apprised of your project’s organizational structure. Get the big picture of your project’s finalized or in-progress hierarchy, including sub-teams, with this completely customizable and shareable template. 

To learn more about creating org charts in Microsoft Word, see “How to Create Organizational Charts in Microsoft Word.”

RACI Matrix by Assignment Template

Download RACI Matrix by Assignment Template

Microsoft Excel | Google Sheets  

Clarify project roles and responsibilities using this RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed) matrix by assignment template. This template can help members of your team, stakeholders, management, and project sponsors quickly understand the components and stages of your project, and who is responsible for each project task. Enter individual ownership and accountability information for each task, so that anyone can quickly assess the state of — and players in — your project.

Project Plan Template

Download Project Plan Template — Microsoft Excel

Track every component of your project plan with this ready-made project plan template. Enter work breakdown structure (WBS) codes, status (e.g., Not Started, In Progress, etc.), start and end dates, duration, and comment details for each task to keep you on schedule. This comprehensive template provides space for all project-specific details, so you can assure stakeholders that every aspect is accounted for.

Gantt Chart Project Template

Download Gantt Chart Project Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

Gain a solid understanding of your project’s task owners and deadlines with this visually rich Gantt chart project template. Enter task-by-task project details, including task ID, task title, task owner, dates, due date, duration (in days), percentage of task complete, week-by-week progress, to ensure your project is progressing smoothly and on time.

How to Use a Project Organization Template

Successful project organization templates provide immediate insight into a project’s personnel hierarchy. These templates also show the status of each project component and any roadblocks to achieving successful project completion. 

A customizable project organization template allows you to modify the team players to fit your project’s structural needs, while also giving you details about each team member, so you can clearly see who’s responsible for each individual project task. While project organization templates vary, they typically include the following sections: 

• Project Title: Choose a project name that accurately communicates the nature of the project to all team members and other stakeholders. 
• Project Manager: Enter the name of the project’s primary manager. This person is responsible for keeping the project’s logistics in line, meeting project milestones, and alerting team members to any project risks.  
• Steering Committee: Enter the team member(s) or managers who are overseeing and providing support for the project on behalf of key stakeholders. 
• Sponsor(s): Enter the names of the sponsors who own the project on behalf of the organization. The project sponsors define the project so that the project manager can deliver it.

 Additionally, project organization templates frequently include the following project-organization-specific components: 

• Task ID: Enter the unique identification number to track individual tasks. 
• Task Title: Enter the name of the “parent” task or subtask for a team member to complete. 
• Task Owner: Enter the name of the team member responsible for each individual project task. 
• Start Date: Enter the date that the individual project team member must start the project task. 
• Due Date: Enter the date that the project team member must complete the project task by. 
• Duration in Days: Enter the duration-in-days range between the project task start and due dates. 
• Percentage of Task Complete: Enter the percentage of task completion for each individual project task. 
• Project Phase Details: Enter week-by-week and day-by-day phase details for each individual project task. 

By defining and agreeing upon a single-source project-organization tracking system from the outset, you, your team, and all additional stakeholders can rest assured that your project will progress and conclude smoothly.

Streamline Project Organization with Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet

From simple task management and project planning to complex resource and portfolio management, Smartsheet helps you improve collaboration and increase work velocity -- empowering you to get more done. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Project Team Chart

A key component of an effective team is everyone understanding the roles and responsibilities of each team member, and, how those functions inter-relate. Help your project team be more effective by building a project team chart. Use this project team chart template to get started-with a few simple clicks you can customize it to show the organization of your team, then link to your project plan, timeline, contact information list and more.

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What Is A RACI Chart? How This Project Management Tool Can Boost Your Productivity

Updated: Jun 4, 2024, 2:46pm

The RACI chart has long been a popular tool amongst project managers around the world. Also referred to as the RACI matrix, it’s used to clarify employee roles and responsibilities for each task, milestone and decision that takes place throughout a project.

The chart is designed to ensure clear communication and smooth workflows across all parts of a team. RACI charts can help prevent that sinking feeling when a major decision-maker comes at the end of a project and complicates things with a large number of changes because they weren’t consulted throughout the project.

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What Is a RACI Chart?

A RACI chart, also called a RACI matrix, is a type of responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) in project management. In practice, it’s a simple spreadsheet or table that lists all stakeholders on a project and their level involvement in each task, denoted with the letters R, A, C or I. Once these roles are defined, assignments can be attributed to the roles and work can begin.

R, A, C, I stands for:

Responsible

Accountable.

Here’s what each designation means:

Responsible designates the task as assigned directly to this person (or group of people). The responsible person is the one who does the work to complete the task or create the deliverable. Every task should have at least one responsible person and could have several.

Responsible parties are typically on the project team and are usually developers or other creators.

The accountable person in the RACI equation delegates and reviews the work involved in a project. Their job is to make sure the responsible person or team knows the expectations of the project and completes work on time. Every task should have only one accountable person and no more.

Accountable parties are typically on the project team, usually in a leadership or management role.

Consulted people provide input and feedback on the work being done in a project. They have a stake in the outcomes of a project because it could affect their current or future work.

Project managers and teams should consult these stakeholders ahead of starting a task to get input on their needs, and again throughout the work and at the completion of a task to get feedback on the outcome.

Not every task or milestone needs a consulted party, but the project manager should consider all possible stakeholders when creating the RACI chart and include as many consulted parties as is appropriate. You should limit this to only necessary input, however. For example, one consulted party per affected team is generally considered best practice to avoid clogging the process with too much input.

Consulted parties may be individuals on the project team who aren’t working on a given task but whose work will be affected by the outcome. They’re also often teammates outside of the project team—even in different departments—whose work will be affected by the outcomes of the project.

Informed folks need to be looped into the progress of a project but not consulted or overwhelmed with the details of every task. They need to know what’s going on because it could affect their work, but they’re not decision makers in the process.

Informed parties are usually outside of the project team and often in different departments. They might include heads or directors of affected teams and senior leadership in a company.

When Should You Use a RACI Matrix?

The framework of a RACI chart is useful for almost any project, although some teams might find it more useful than others

For example, I know in creating this article that I’m the responsible party, because I’m doing the work of writing. My editor is accountable for assigning and reviewing the work. And they likely have consulted and informed others around them, such as a managing editor and an SEO specialist.

But this project is fairly simple. It only takes a few steps and includes a handful of stakeholders. A formal RACI chart comes in handy for complex and long-lasting projects that include lots of stakeholders, tasks and milestones, especially if work is overlapping.

For example, a company’s website redesign would require design, copy and development teams to work on tasks concurrently. Each task would affect work in sales, marketing, finance and business development. Structural changes, timelines and major costs would require input and approval from senior management.

Needs are easily overlooked and requirements dropped in such complex projects.

A project manager typically creates a RACI chart to avoid missing those important details and ensure clear communication throughout the project.

Using RACI with Other Project Management Methodologies

Agile is a very popular type of project management, especially for tech workers. While RACI is applicable to agile project management, schools of thought vary on whether it is necessary for an agile context.

Additionally, the Scrum and Scrumban project management methodologies build project ownership (accountability) into their framework and are designed to facilitate regular communication among project teams and outside stakeholders. That makes a RACI chart seem redundant for this method and possibly a poor use of a project manager’s time.

However, additional communication and clarification—in a systematic fashion—tend to be more of a benefit than a drawback for any project, so some SCRUM project managers find RACI useful for clarifying roles for individual projects or their overall process.

Example RACI Chart (and How To Use It)

To create a RACI chart, list all of a project’s tasks down the left-hand column and stakeholders across the top row. For each task, enter an R, A, C or I to assign a level of involvement for each stakeholder in each task.

For example, in the matrix above:

• The senior analyst is responsible for completing the work in the econometric model.
• The SVP finance is accountable for that task—they assign it to the senior analyst and review the work.
• The team will consult the SEO lead for input before and feedback after the task.
• The team will inform the project manager, head of design, sales director and senior management of the project’s progress.

Color coding tasks can be useful to see at a glance whether any team member is responsible for too many tasks within a project and to make sure you’ve assigned at least one Responsible and one Accountable party for each task.

Breaking the chart down by project phases also lets you see how many tasks anyone is responsible for within a certain timeframe, which can help distribute work evenly and avoid overwhelm.

Pros and Cons of RACI

From a project management perspective, things like more organization and clearer communication are generally better, so the benefits of using a RACI chart on a project far outweigh the drawbacks in most cases. With that in mind, teams should be cognizant of the initial time investment of creating a RACI chart and the rigidity of the roles.

• Maintain clear and open communication with all stakeholders.
• Avoid overwhelming team members with tasks or unnecessary information.
• Avoid “too many cooks” offering input on any task.
• Help stakeholders prepare for a project’s future impact on their work.
• You might spend time unnecessarily creating the chart for simple projects.
• Roles are rigid and might not fully illustrate a team member’s stake in a project.

You might see additional drawbacks using a RACI chart for your project if your team succumbs to some common pitfalls, including:

• Stakeholders will be confused if they don’t understand the differences among the terms, especially Responsible versus Accountable and Consulted versus Informed.
• It’s a formality and a waste of time if no one references it after approval.

RACI Matrix Alternatives

Some teams find the roles designated through the RACI model aren’t the right fit for their projects. You might find better options in these less common alternatives—all use a chart with tasks and stakeholders like RACI, but they use different terms in an attempt to more clearly define roles.

This alternative to RACI uses the RACI model plus S for Supportive. This is someone who participates in doing the work of a task by supporting the responsible parties.

This model designates stakeholders as:

• Communicate: These are the consulted and informed parties.
• Approve: This is the decision maker.
• Responsible: This person does the work.
• Support: These parties support the responsible person in doing the work.

This model simplifies CARS with just the Responsible, Approve and Support roles. It eliminates communication outside the project team, which would need to be accounted for another way in the project management method.

This model includes these roles similar to RACI:

• Drivers: The people who do the work.
• Approvers: The decision makers.
• Contributor: People who are consulted on the task.
• Informed: People who are informed of the project’s progress.

In this model, stakeholders are assigned these actions:

• Contribute: People who are consulted and who do the work.
• Lead: People who delegate work and manage a task.
• Approve: Decision makers.
• Monitor: People who are kept in the loop on a project’s progress.

Bottom Line

Projects can be complex, confusing and chaotic. That’s why we rely on team members with the project management skills necessary to reign in the disparate pieces of a project and focus directly on keeping them organized as a project progresses.

A RACI chart is one tool that helps project managers keep a project on track.

By listing all stakeholders and assigning a level of involvement for each task, the chart helps teams communicate clearly and keep the right people in the loop.

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WTO / Business / Tracking / Free Task List Templates for Employees (Excel | Word)

Free Task List Templates for Employees (Excel | Word)

Project managers and leaders must assign tasks to the right team members to ensure their teams are organised and productive. It is a comprehensive checklist that helps individuals or teams stay organised, track progress, and manage their workload effectively.  It is a tool that outlines all of the tasks required for a project from start to finish.

By using a task list, project managers can identify, categorise, and assign tasks to employees or team members in a systematic way. Its contents vary depending on the nature of the project. It typically includes details such as the name of the tasks, descriptions, due dates, assigned individuals or teams, and status updates, provides a clear overview of the work that needs to be accomplished, and helps ensure that nothing is overlooked or forgotten.

This article highlights the significance of task lists in ensuring efficient project management and provides practical guidance on customising an Excel template to create a tailored list that meets specific project needs.

What is a Template for a Task List? 

A template for a task list serves as a versatile document that enables efficient organisation, tracking, and management of project activities.

It provides a structured format with various categories of information essential for effective project management . These categories typically include activity descriptions, assigned employees, status updates, priorities, and deadlines. However, the template can be tailored to meet specific task specifications and project requirements by adding or removing relevant entries. 

Using a template is useful as it provides a standardised format for organising and managing the activities of the project. This ensures that consistent information is recorded for each assignment. It also allows managers to formulate their own convenient system of listing activities, assigning duties to team members, setting deadlines, and tracking progress. 

A popular tool for creating templates in Microsoft Excel. It is a convenient program because of its user-friendly interface, which makes it simple to use. You can easily navigate through its features and commands. This allows for easy and quick customization.

Also, it has features to simplify various uses of the template, such as calculating task completion times to track progress. It is also easily accessible and compatible with multiple devices. This allows easy collaboration with team members when utilising the template. 

Free Templates

Benefits of Using a Task List

Project managers can benefit in many ways when using a task list to manage their teams. This is because they are an effective way to launch projects quickly and ensure activities are identified, prioritised, and assigned to the most suitable employees under each step. 

Here are different ways team leaders can benefit from one:

Increase productivity and efficiency

With this list, employee responsibilities can be clearly defined, ensuring the team remains focused as everyone knows what is expected. This increases productivity. Also, duties can be delegated so that capable members or teams can work on different tasks simultaneously. This ensures goals and deadlines are met due to reduced downtime. This results in faster delivery and the optimization of time and resources, thus completing projects efficiently.    

Prioritise tasks

Tasks can be listed in order of importance, priority, or urgency. Additionally, by displaying the dependencies between tasks in this order, the team is better able to prioritise its efforts and avoid bottlenecks. 

Tracks progress and recurring tasks

The document lists the activity’s status, which can be either completed, ongoing, or pending. This information is needed to track the team’s progress over time. It can also be shared with team members, stakeholders, and clients to ensure they are updated on the project’s progress. 

A list of repeating activities can be duplicated and reused for the corresponding period, whether daily, weekly, or monthly, using a premade template. 

Allows delegation

Listing activities simplifies the delegation of work among the team members. You can identify the strengths of each member and assign them to duties they are suitable for. Additionally, you can more effectively and fairly distribute the workload and responsibilities among the employees to prevent overworking some of them at the expense of others. 

Better time management

You can divide large tasks into smaller, manageable activities with a list. Listing activities allows you to manage them effectively and allocate realistic deadlines.   

Reduced stress

Task lists offer a valuable solution to alleviate the mental burden of remembering every task. By providing a clear structure and a sense of control, they effectively reduce stress and create more mental space for focusing on the current task.

Improved communication

A task list informs team members, stakeholders, and clients about activities, the assigned employee, and the completion timeline. This promotes alignment and fosters collaboration among all stakeholders, ensuring that everyone shares a common understanding and can work together efficiently to successfully meet project deadlines.

Greater accountability 

Task lists establish accountability by clearly assigning tasks to specific team members. Each individual knows their responsibilities and can track their progress against the tasks assigned to them.

How to Make a Task List for Your Team

Understanding how to create a functional and effective activity list for your project is important. This is because a well-prepared document is easy to use and eliminates the risk of any errors due to missed or forgotten tasks or steps. 

Below is the detailed process for making such lists for a project:

Consider the scope of the project

It is important to consider the scope of the project, which is determined by its size and nature. Define the specific deliverables, the number of tasks involved, and the expected final product. This information will guide you in identifying the necessary activities that need to be completed. Subsequently, based on that, you can determine the appropriate format and layout for your document, ensuring its effectiveness and organisation.

Determine the priority of each task based on its importance, urgency, and dependencies. Identify critical tasks that need to be completed first or those that may impact the overall project timeline.

Determine the project’s timeline

Then, determine the timeline by identifying when different activities should be completed and the order in which they should be prioritised. Use this information to set realistic and achievable deadlines for each activity. 

Divide the project into sections

The project should be divided into smaller, manageable tasks. Begin by identifying the significant milestones or phases and subsequently dividing them into more specific action items.

Assign responsibilities

Next, assign the activities to the appropriate employees. Assign tasks to specific team members or stakeholders responsible for their completion. Clearly communicate the assignments and ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.

Organise and structure

Determine the most suitable format for your list. It could be a simple checklist, a spreadsheet, project management software, or any other tool that works best for you and your team.

Regularly review and update

Continuously review and update the list as the project progresses. Add new tasks, modify deadlines if needed, and ensure that completed tasks are checked off or marked as complete.

Communicate and collaborate

Share the list with the relevant team members and stakeholders. Encourage open communication and collaboration to address any questions, provide support, and ensure everyone is aligned.This infographic is about tips for using task list templates.

How to Customise a Task List Template in Excel

A template is simply a pre-made outline to guide you on what information to include in your list and the appropriate format and layout to use. Therefore, templates will normally offer you a customization option that allows you to create a document that is specific to your project and fulfils your requirements.

Below is a complete procedure on how to create one using Excel:

Launch excel

Launch Microsoft Excel on your computer by clicking on the Excel icon or finding it in your applications folder. Once Excel is open, you will see a blank workbook. This is where you will create your list. If you have a specific project file, you can open it instead.

Select a task list template

Choose a pre-designed task list template from the available options. You can find templates by selecting “File” > “New” and searching for “task list” in the template search bar. Alternatively, you can also browse online for templates compatible with Excel and download them.

Review the template structure

Take a moment to review the structure and layout of the template. Familiarise yourself with the columns, headers, and data fields already included.

Create column headers 

Then, modify the headers and sections of the template in Excel to match the project steps or workflow. Determine the categories or information you want to have. Common column headers may include task name, description, assigned to, status, deadline, priority, and notes. Enter these column headers in the first row of your worksheet. 

Enter details of the tasks

Starting from the second row, enter the relevant details for each task in the corresponding columns. For example, under “Task Name,” enter the name or title of the task. Add appropriate information for each activity in the other columns, such as descriptions, assigned individuals, due dates, status updates, and any additional notes. 

Add or remove columns

Add or remove columns based on the information you want to track for your tasks. Right-click on the column header and select “Insert” or “Delete” to add or remove columns, respectively.

Adjust column widths

Resize the column widths to accommodate the content in each column. Hover your cursor between the column letters, click, and drag to expand or shrink the width as needed.

Format the cells

Apply formatting options such as font style, size, and colour to enhance the visual appeal and readability of the list. You can also add borders, shading, or cell highlighting to draw attention to important information.

Customise data validation

If your list template includes data validation, customise it to fit your specific needs. Data validation can help ensure that entered data meets certain criteria, such as selecting options from a drop-down list for task status or priority.

Add formulas or conditional formatting

Utilize Excel’s formulas and conditional formatting features to automate calculations and visually highlight specific data based on certain conditions. For example, you can create a formula to calculate task completion percentages or use conditional formatting to highlight overdue tasks.

Save and use the customized template

Once you have made the desired changes and customizations, save the file as a template for future use. Select “File” > “Save As” and choose the file format “.xltx” or “.xlsx” to save it as an Excel template.

By following these steps, you can effectively customise a task list template in Excel to align with your project or personal task management requirements. This flexibility allows you to create a task list that suits your specific needs and enhances your productivity and organisation.

Types of Task List Templates 

You can access different types of templates for listing your project tasks. Below are examples of common types of such templates. They vary in complexity and application:

Simple task list 

This blank template outlines tasks in a straightforward format. It has sections for recording a brief task description, due date, and status. It is meant for small projects with a few team members that do not require extensive planning. This template is simple in design and easy to use when creating lists and managing employees.

Project task list 

It is a generic template designed to organise, track, and manage activities in different projects. The template has sections to indicate the project tasks, deadlines, assignees, priority, and deliverables. It is more detailed and can be used for personal and business projects. This template can also outline potential issues and risks that ought to be mitigated throughout the project.

Daily task list 

The tasks that must be accomplished each day in order to advance the project toward its objectives are recorded on a daily task list. It indicates the starting time for each day and task interval and, as such, can be segmented into hours. It should be flexible to accommodate changes or unforeseen circumstances that may arise during the project. Regularly update and communicate the list with relevant team members to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the project’s objectives.

Weekly task list 

It helps individuals or teams plan and organise their tasks for the entire week. It typically includes tasks that need to be accomplished within that specific week. It has sections for the day, date, task description, due date, status, and keynotes. It can be synced with the calendar to optimise scheduling. This document is an effective time management instrument that helps plan and prioritise weekly activities to ensure they are completed before the deadline at the end of the week.

In conclusion, task lists are indispensable tools for effective task management and productivity. Individuals and teams can stay organised, prioritise their work, and monitor progress toward their objectives by using them. To make task management even easier, there are various free templates available on this website that can be customised to fit specific needs and preferences. Thus, project managers and team leaders must use them to increase employee productivity and manage time and resources effectively. This leads to easier and faster delivery of project goals.  Templates can be significantly helpful in making effective and professional task lists. They record information such as activity description, deadline, and status to organise and manage project activities accurately. Also, they are reusable and can be customised using tools like Excel to ensure they align with your management style and specific project needs.     

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7 Free Resource Planning Templates For Project Teams

Are you looking for free resource planning templates? Get access to the below templates the Google Sheets/Excel templates that make resource planning and management relatively easy.

• Team Availability Tracker
• Resource Allocation Template
• Project Resource Planning Template
• Resource Capacity Planning Template
• Timesheet Template
• Staff Resource Planning Template
• Human Resource Capacity Planning Template

If like most small teams, you use spreadsheets to manage project resources, these ready-made templates are a huge time-saver. Instead of starting from scratch, you can get quickly off the blocks using templates.

Let’s dive in.

What is resource planning?

Resource planning is the process that ensures that the right resources are available to the project when needed. Within resource planning, project managers:

• Track resource availability.
• Plan and track project resource allocation.
• Assign resources to project tasks.
• Manage resource capacity and workloads.
• Track time spent by resources on tasks.

Without a resource plan in place, projects get delayed, or worse, fail. Besides, upfront resource planning also helps avoid conflicts with other teams .

However, resource planning is not a one-time activity. Project managers need to adjust resource plans to account for:

• Changes in project scope
• Changes in resource availability or capacity
• Delays in tasks and milestones

Resource planning templates help you record, update and visualize resource availability, allocation, and capacity data. 

Resource planning and management templates

So far, you’ve learned about resource planning templates and how they can help. You also know about the disadvantages of using these templates.

Next, let’s take a look at the templates you’ll need to manage your project team.

How to download and use these templates?

All the templates below are view-only templates.

Make a copy of a template by clicking File → Make a copy… from the Google Sheets menu.

To download the template for Excel, click File → Download → Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) .

Each template comes with three sheets (Instructions, Example, and Template) to help you get started.

1. Team Availability Tracker

Team members are unavailable because of public holidays or planned vacations. Finding available team members to work on a project is a critical step in resource allocation. 

The Team Availability Tracker Template helps you track your team’s off time and visualize your team’s availability to work on a project. That way, you can schedule work when they are available.

How to use the Team Availability Tracker template?

• Click here to make to copy or download the template as an Excel file.
• Enter the month (MONTH) for which you want to track your team’s availability. This automatically populates the calendar for the month below.
• Add your team members to the EMPLOYEE column.
• Enter text or emojis to mark a team member’s off time on a specific date.

2. Resource Allocation Template

Once you know the available resources, the next step is to allocate them to a project . Or simply assigning a team member to a project for a specific period. 

The Resource Allocation template helps you track these assignments.

It helps track when a specific resource is available to work on a project . Use this template along with the resource availability tracker to avoid scheduling on dates when the resource is AWOL.

Tracking work assignments is critical, especially with shared team members. For example, multiple project teams could share a designer in a small web design company. It becomes important to know when this designer is available to take on more work.

How to use the resource allocation template?

• Enter your team member names in the RESOURCE column.
• This resource allocation template shows you weekly assignments for your team members.
• Once a team member is allocated to a project, mark the corresponding week with an ‘ X ‘.
• Optionally, insert a note from the File → Insert menu to add the name of the project they’re allocated to.

3. Project Resource Planning Template

Once people are assigned to a project, the next step is to track their workload within a project. 

The Project Resource Planning Template helps you assign tasks within a project without creating scheduling conflicts or workload imbalances. It also gives you a clear overview of who within your project is doing what and when.

In addition, it also shows you the number of days available for a resource during a month.

You’ll need to account for task dependencies, delays, as well as people’s availability and skills when assigning tasks. 

How to use the project resource planning template?

• Enter the month ( MONTH) and the project name ( PROJECT NAME) . The calendar below automatically updates for the month.
• Enter an ‘ X ‘ for a day when a resource is not available.
• Enter the task name when you want to book a resource for a task.

4. Resource Capacity Planning Template

After you’ve assigned people to tasks, the next step is to track each team member’s workloads.

Whether a client comes with additional work or a new client comes onboard, you want to know who’s available to take on new work. At the same time, you don’t want to overwork your team members.

The Resource Capacity Planning Template helps you track the estimated working hours for all team members .

Also, you can visualize if any team member has some extra capacity. Or rebalance workloads if any team member is overwhelmed.

How to use the resource capacity planning template?

• Enter the MONTH for which you want to track your team’s capacity.
• Add all your team members under the RESOURCE column.
• The sheet automatically creates the calendar for the month and calculates the available working hours ( AVL. HRS. )
• Now add the estimated workloads on each day of the month corresponding to a team members.
• The sheet calculates the booked hours ( BKD. HRS. ) and utilization ( UTIL. ) for each member.

5. Timesheet Template

The timesheet template helps you track and measure the billable hours put in by your team in a project.

Whether you’re charging based on time and materials or a fixed price, staying in control of your project’s budget is essential. Without this, your agency cannot deliver profitable projects and grow.

How to use the Timesheet Template?

• Enter the month ( MONTH ) for which you want to track billable amounts.
• Enter the names of your team members ( RESOURCE ) and their hourly rates ( HRLY. RATE ) in the corresponding columns.
• Finally, enter the billable hours put in by each team member on a day of the month.
• The sheet automatically calculates the

6. Staff Resource Planning Template

At times you may want to look at the resource requirements over the next year.

A Staff Resource Planning Template helps you understand if you need to hire any resources based on project commitments for the year.

In addition, it can also help you plan your recruitment based on when you need a specific type of resource.

How to use the Staff Resource Planning Template?

• Enter all the roles that your agency needs in the RESOURCE TYPE column.
• Enter the number of days you expect to utilize a resource type during each month.
• The sheet automatically calculates the TOTAL days you’ll require a resource during the year.

7. Human Resource Capacity Planning Template

The Human Resource Capacity Planning Template helps you see average workload and utilization by employee, department, and job title.

Like the Staff Resource Planning Template, this template helps you manage your employee/freelancer recruitment and onboarding. As a result, you can match your agency’s capacity with the demand and the workload.

How to use the Human Resource Capacity Planning Template?

• Enter your agency’s EMPLOYEE s along with their DEPARTMENT , JOB TITLE , and monthly CAPACITY .
• Enter their workload in actual (or estimated) hours for each month.
• The sheet automatically calculates the average workload ( AVG. WRKLD ) and UTILIZATION for each employee.
• In addition, the spreadsheet also has two pivot tables that shows you average workload and utilization for each department and job title.

Pros and cons of using resource planning templates

Ready-to-use templates come with the following advantages:

• Instead of starting from scratch, you can get started quickly
• Low cost, as you probably already have access to Excel/Google Sheets
• Little onboarding, as almost everyone knows how to use spreadsheets

Templates also have their fair share of disadvantages which make them unusable in most real-world situations.

• Spreadsheets generally lack communication and collaboration features essential for team scheduling
• It’s hard to keep track of who’s made what changes to a spreadsheet’s data
• Not everyone needs to see everything in the spreadsheet, but you cannot prevent them from seeing it
• Keeping track of different versions and keeping different spreadsheets in sync is quite a task

Updating templates needs discipline & effort

If you haven’t realized it yet, updating all these templates is a lot of work . 

These templates work together. And, if you miss updating any of these, your resource planning will be error-prone.

Some of these templates may look similar. And it’s tempting to combine these templates into one. 

But, there’s a reason why these templates are separate. Each template serves a different audience and purpose. Combining templates will cause information overload, and inconsistencies and lead to chaos.

So, what are your options?

• Either, you can choose to keep all the templates up to date with the necessary discipline.
• Or, you can choose to follow only the relevant steps in the resource planning workflow. That way, you’ll have fewer templates to update.
• Or, you can use a project and resource planning tool like Toggl Plan.

Toggl Plan: A Better Alternative To Resource Planning Templates

Toggl Plan is a beautifully simple work timeline planning tool. It makes project and resource planning a breeze.

Let’s understand how:

Track Team Member Availability

With Toggl Plan, you can create unlimited, color-coded plans. You can create a plan specifically to track your team’s leave plans. 

Besides, Toggl Plan also adds country-specific public holidays to the timeline. 

With these two features, you can easily visualize and find the available team members to take up a project.

Some more notable features include:

Track time off

Knowing when your team is available is crucial for scheduling and delivering projects on time.

The Time off feature is a convenient way to communicate the team’s time away from work. It provides a clear overview of who’s available and who’s not — be they annual leave, public holidays, sick leave or something else. You can also see a conflict warning when work is scheduled for someone who is unavailable.

Allocate Team Members To Projects & Tasks

With Toggl Plan, you can easily add team members to a project plan or a team plan. 

You can assign one or more team members to a task. And, these team members can collaborate on a task using comments and file attachments.

As a result, all the project-related information is available in one place. And, your team doesn’t have to use multiple channels to communicate about the project.

Managing Team Capacity & Workloads

For each task in Toggl Plan, you can include the estimated effort. 

On the team timeline, you can visualize your team workloads. Visualizing workloads helps you understand if team members are overworked or have any capacity to take up more tasks.

Time Tracking & Timesheet Management

Toggl Plan integrates with Toggl Track for time tracking and timesheet management . 

With this integration, you can easily track the actual time on each task. Plus, you can generate timesheets and billing reports. 

In Conclusion

Resource planning templates help you organize, capture, and track resource allocation and usage. 

Spreadsheet templates are easily accessible to everyone. Plus, such templates are readily available for free on the internet.

However, spreadsheets don’t come with communication and collaboration features. Also, you’ll constantly struggle to maintain data integrity and prevent information overload.

Consider using a project and resource planning tool like Toggl Plan to avoid these drawbacks. Try out the team plan with a 14-day free trial. 

Jitesh is an SEO and content specialist. He manages content projects at Toggl and loves sharing actionable tips to deliver projects profitably.

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20 best task management software

Task management software is more than a digital base for your to-do lists. It’s a collaborative space where your teams can come together and understand their role in shared workloads.

This guide walks through the features you should look for in team task management software and 20 vendor examples to kickstart your research for the perfect tool.

What is team task management?

Task management is the systematic process of planning, organizing, assigning, tracking, and completing tasks to meet your business objectives. Each task is a single unit of work that individual team members are responsible for completing. Managing these overall tasks involves coordinating team members’ efforts, setting priorities, and monitoring task progress to ensure efficient collaboration, streamlined workflows, and successful project outcomes.

Why do teams need task management software?

The right task management software will move your team away from endless email chains and focus on the necessary tasks to keep your work and projects flowing. From here, it’s easy for teams to work together efficiently and identify potential issues such as bottlenecks or imbalanced workloads.

What features should task management software have?

When researching team task management software, you’ll notice that platforms have a wide range of features, and some will share common functionality. Before you invest, check your preferred tool is equipped with the following:

• Multiple views : Visualize your tasks using common views like Calendar, Kanban, List, or countless alternatives. For example, monday work management offers 15+ options, including Gantt Charts, which visually display task milestones and dependencies between items for a clear overview of your work.
• Intuitive interface : Ensure your team easily adapts to any new task management tool.
• Range of integrations : Connect your task management software with multiple other tools in your tech stack to prevent tool-hopping.
• Custom automations : Simplify repetitive workflows by setting up automations that run in the background. For example, an automation could email the entire team when someone completes their task.
• Ability to set subtasks and dependencies : Break tasks down into smaller chunks called subtasks and specify the order they must occur by making some tasks dependent on the next. For example, editing a blog post would depend on someone writing the first draft.

Now you know the features and functionality you’re looking for in a quality task management software, here are twenty solutions to compare when researching the right platform for your team.

1. monday work management

Best for: Any size of team that wants to reach shared goals faster and at scale.

monday work management is a feature-rich work management platform built on top of the monday.com Work OS.

Companies use our platform to plan and organize any type of workflow or project, with task management being a key collaboration feature. monday work management offers the following features:

• 15+ board views, including the Workload View delivering visibility into team member capacity. This visibility is essential for task assignment as project leads and managers have clarity about what each team member is available to work on.
• Customizable dashboards using 10+ drag-and-drop widgets to display high-level project data. You can see to-do lists, team goals, and task reports at-a-glance and in real time.
• Automations to eliminate repetitive tasks from your workflow, like updating team members with email or Slack notifications when each task is complete. This enables peers to review the work, or move on with their task at the next stage of the project.
• Recurring tasks  are another automation you can set up. For example, schedule regular team meetings to keep on top of your projects, or set up recurring requests for weekly project reports.
• Integrations with the tools you already know and love, so you can run powerful projects without switching tabs. For example, you might integrate monday work management with Google Drive to attach docs to your tasks or Slack to update a team channel following completion.
• Time tracking to ensure your team spends its time efficiently. Use the data to accurately forecast how long your team might need to allocate to specific tasks, or to bill clients accordingly.

monday work management pricing

monday work management offers five different price plans:

• Free: $0 for up to 2 users: 20+ column types, 200+ templates, iOS & Android apps, whiteboard collaboration, shareable forms, and more
• Basic : $27/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 5GB storage, unlimited boards/docs, custom fields, unlimited free viewers, and more
• Standard : $36/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 20GB storage, 6-month activity log, integrations, guest access, and more
• Pro : $57/month/3 users with annual billing: Unlimited users, 100GB storage, 1-year activity log, time tracking, workload management, and more
• Enterprise: Custom pricing, 5-year activity log, up to 50 boards, dedicated customer success manager, enhanced admin controls, and analytics

More details on monday.com pricing here

Best for: Teams seeking simple task and project management with clear communication capabilities.

Asana is a task management software offering a simple interface for tracking your team projects’ various sections, tasks, and subtasks.

Key features

• Customizable views , such as the Timeline view to gain visibility into upcoming deadlines or the Workload view to understand team member capacity.
• Task celebrations which occur when you check the task completion box.
• Integrations with 200+ tools in your tech stack, allowing you to automate tasks between them. For example, you might create a new Google Drive folder for each new task you add in Asana.
• Weekly focus mode , which allows you to capture your top priorities for the week ahead.

Asana pricing

• Free : Up to 15 users
• Premium : Starting at $10.99/user/mo
• Business : Starting at $24.99/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing, includes Business plan features, custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support

Related: Asana alternatives , Asana pricing , Asana work management

Best for : Cross-functional teams aiming to streamline workflows and communication.

Wrike is a project management software you can use to assign tasks to team members, upload files, set deadlines, and track progress. One of Wrike’s strengths is supporting cross-collaborative teams from a central platform.

• Multiple dashboard views to gain insights into task statuses.
• Real-time collaboration , including commenting and file sharing from a central location.
• Customizable pre-built templates designed for marketing, IT & engineering teams, etc.

Wrike pricing

• Free : Suitable for teams up to five people
• Team : From $9.80 per user/mo for teams of 2-25 people
• Business : From $24.80 per user/mo for teams up to 200 people
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for companies who require features like user audit reports and custom access roles.
• Pinnacle : Additional enterprise features include advanced reporting, budgeting, and billable hours tools.

Related: Wrike pricing

Best for : Agile software development teams focused on issue tracking and project planning.

Jira is an Atlassian product created for software developers who follow Agile project management principles.

• Interactive timelines , including mapping work items, task dependencies, and new releases.
• Reports and insights tied to your tasks and overall projects to understand metrics like deployment frequency and cycle time.
• Autonomy preferences allow you to decide whether your projects are company or team-managed.

Jira pricing

• Free : For up to 10 users
• Standard : From $7.75 per user/mo
• Premium : From $15.25 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing for unlimited sites, central security controls, user subscriptions, 24/7 Enterprise support.

Related: Jira pricing, Jira work management

Best for: Visual thinkers and small teams managing tasks with a simple, card-based interface.

Trello uses a Kanban-style methodology for task management which will appeal to teams who like to visualize all the projects they have on the go and the specific tasks they need to complete.

• Boards, lists, and cards , where boards represent projects, lists are each project stage, and cards are for individual tasks. Users move cards between lists once they’ve completed them to indicate they’re ready for the next project stage
• Multi-device compatibility , including availability on your browser and mobile devices, even when you’re offline
• Collaboration , including commenting or tagging teammates on specific cards and adding relevant attachments

Trello pricing

• Free : For up to 10 boards
• Standard : Starting at $5/user/mo
• Premium : Starting at $10/user/mo
• Enterprise : Starting at $17.50/user/mo for larger organizations requiring advanced security and controls.

Related: Trello pricing , Trello vs. monday.com

6. Basecamp

Best for: Startups and small teams looking to centralize project communication and tasks.

Basecamp offers a way to set up a single page to house everything you need for each project.

• Project scheduling tool which displays your deadlines, milestones, dated to-dos, and relevant events.
• Campfire conversations which act as Basecamp’s in-built group chat tool.
• Doors that are integrations to external tools like Slack, Airtable, Google Drive, Miro, etc.

Basecamp pricing

• Basecamp : $15 per user/month
• Basecamp Pro Unlimited : Starting from $299/month for unlimited users

Related: Basecamp alternatives

7. Evernote Teams

Best for: Creative teams requiring note-taking and information sharing in a digital workspace.

Evernote Teams is a collaborative workspace for note-taking, brainstorming, or hosting a company wiki. 

• Real-time collaboration , including the ability to edit notes simultaneously. 
• Task assignments , with functionality such as delegations and reminders. 
• Searchable document repository to find the right note based on its title, keywords, content type, or dates. 

Evernote Teams pricing

• Professional : From $17.99 per user/mo

Teams : From $20.83 per user/mo

8. Airtable

Best for: Data-driven teams wanting a flexible database and project management solution.

Airtable is a no-code database platform designed to help teams manage projects and store data.

• Spreadsheet view with a drag-and-drop function to manipulate your data layout.
• Multiple views, including Kanban, Gantt, List, and Calendar.
• Rich media support , including the ability to attach videos, images, and audio files to your tasks.

Airtable pricing

• Free : Designed for individuals or small teams
• Plus : Starting at $10/seat/mo
• Pro : Starting at $20/seat/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing for larger teams requiring features like unlimited workspaces, extensions, and Salesforce & Jira on-prem sync integrations.

Related: Airtable pricing , Airtable vs. monday.com

9. Smartsheet

Best for : Teams involved in business operations requiring access to dynamic spreadsheet capabilities.

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like project management platform designed to help teams manage work, automate repetitive tasks, and collaborate on documents.

• Multiple data views , including Grid, Chart, Gantt, and Calendar.
• Pre-built templates for tasks like planning and budget goals which you can customize to fit your requirements.
• Customizable forms to collect insights and data from internal or stakeholders.

Smartsheet pricing

There are four Smartsheet pricing options:

• Free : Suitable for individuals
• Pro : Starting at $7/user/mo
• Business : Starting at $25/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for large teams, with access to Smartsheet Advance offerings.

Related: Smartsheet project management

10. HubSpot

Best for : Sales and marketing teams that need to track leads and manage customer relationships.

HubSpot isn’t a traditional task management software. However, it does offer the ability to add tasks within the CRM platform.

• To-do list prioritization for scheduling tasks related to your customer base
• Task dashboards which act as a base for your tasks, contact details, and meetings
• Embedded reporting , including past task tracking of closed deals, calls made, and activities completed

HubSpot pricing

• Free : $0 for marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations tools
• Starter : From $30 per month
• Professional : From $1,600 per month
• Enterprise : From $5,000 per month

11. Todoist

Best for: Small teams focused on a holistic approach to collaborative task management.

Todoist is a simple task management app that enables teams to manage tasks, projects, and collaboration in one place.

• Task assignments including the ability to create projects, add tasks, set due dates, and assign responsibility.
• Messaging functionality which allows team members to share files, discuss details and provide updates.
• Task filtering so users can see each other’s activity streams or upcoming due dates.

Todoist pricing

• Starter Plan: For up to 5 active projects.
• Business Plan : From $6 per member/mo

12. MeisterTask

Best for : Creative teams seeking intuitive project planning and visual workflows.

MeisterTask is another Kanban-style task management tool that gives teams a clear overview of their to-do lists.

• Agendas which are private boards visible only to individual team members
• Task watchers to keep relevant people in the loop about specific tasks
• Task relationships allow you to tag whether tasks are related or duplicates

MeisterTask pricing

• Basic : For up to three projects
• Pro : $8.25 per user/mo
• Business : $20.75 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing is available for a dedicated account manager, personalized onboarding assistance, and SAML single sign-on.

Best for : Teams requiring knowledge-sharing and project management using a single platform.

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that uses custom blocks, including text, images, or tables, to store your notes, documents, and project tasks.

• Task views allow you to filter by calendars, task lists, Gantt Charts, tables, and more
• Template library with access to 5,000 customizable templates to suit your project tasks.
• Integrations with tools like Loom or Slack so you can attach video messages or conversations to your tasks.

Notion pricing

• Free : Small teams can try a limited block trial.
• Plus : Starting from $8/user/mo
• Business : Starting from $15/user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing with advanced security features, among other benefits.

14. MS Project

Best for : Large enterprises managing complex projects with advanced scheduling.

Microsoft Project is a platform that allows you to manage large-scale projects from a central location.

• Coauthoring tools which allow multiple stakeholders to update task lists and project schedules simultaneously.
• Interactive roadmaps you can build to increase visibility across your organization.
• Timesheet submissions for capturing time spent on tasks.

MS Project pricing

MS Project is available as part of the following cloud-based packages:

• Project Plan 1: $10 per user/mo
• Project Plan 3 : $30 per user/mo
• Project Plan 5: $55 per user/mo

15. Microsoft OneNote

Best for: Teams on a budget requiring collaborative note-taking and information organization.

Microsoft OneNote uses Notebooks as the highest level of organization within the platform, which includes sections and pages to store your notes and tasks.

• Built-in OneNote templates for mapping out project lists
• Task prioritization by adding High, Medium, or Low project tags
• Handwriting compatibility using Surface or Surface Slim Pen 2 devices allows you to digitize your handwritten meeting notes and transform them into tasks

Microsoft OneNote pricing

OneNote is available with a Microsoft 365 subscription, which starts from $6 user/mo for a Business Basic package.

16. Adobe Workfront

Best for : Creative teams that need to manage projects, approvals, and digital assets.

Adobe Workfront is a cloud-based collaboration and project management solution that enables teams to track progress, tasks, resources, and budgets in one place.

• Automated handoffs to simplify reviews and approval of work tasks.
• Real-time dashboards that enable you to gain visibility of your work and address any bottlenecks.
• Scenario planning tools to anticipate how incoming tasks will impact your team.

Adobe Workfront pricing

Adobe Workfront offers Select, Ultimate, Prime, and Custom pricing plans, but you must contact the vendor for an accurate quote.

Best for : Visual collaboration, brainstorming, and diagramming among remote teams.

Miro is a visual task management tool you can use as a digitized version of a whiteboard and sticky notes.

• 2,000 Miro and community templates offering frameworks like mind maps and service blueprints.
• Integrations with 130+ apps in your existing workflow, including Jira, Zoom, and Google Docs.
• Flowchart maker to plot out the essential tasks in your project processes.

Miro pricing

• Free : For unlimited team members.
• Starter : From $8 per member/mo
• Enterprise Plan : Custom pricing for SCIM license management, enhanced security with 2FA, domain control, etc.

Best for: Teams looking for integrated project management and communication.

Hive is a productivity software that enables teams to manage upcoming tasks and collaborate on wider projects.

• Six project layouts , including database and summary views
• Meeting note task assignment enabling you to take action following team discussions
• External user task assignment if you need to work with guest users like freelancers, clients, or third-party business partners

Hive pricing

• Teams : From $12 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing available for enhanced security and permissions, custom analytics, etc.

19. SmartTask

Best for : Businesses seeking an all-in-one platform for task management and CRM.

SmartTask is a work management platform with tools to organize recurring or one-off tasks.

• Task estimates for individual tasks if you need to budget or allocate resources.
• Video meetings which you can trigger directly from tasks.
• Automatic tasks are generated by sending your email communications directly to SmartTask.

SmartTask pricing

• Free : For unlimited users
• Premium : From $7.98 per user/mo
• Business : From $10.98 per user/mo
• Enterprise : Custom pricing available, including white labeling, SSO, Enterprise API, etc.

Best for : Teams requiring dynamic spreadsheets and project management capabilities.

Any.do is a simple task management platform accessible from various desktop and mobile devices, including smartwatches.

• Automated WhatsApp notifcations for deadline reminders.
• Smart calendar view that displays all upcoming tasks in one place.
• Task color-coding to categorize your work.

Any.do pricing

• Personal : For individual users
• Premium : From $3 per month
• Teams : From $5 per user/mo

monday work management: the perfect team task management software

There are all kinds of task management apps, tools, and software at our fingertips to make us more productive than ever before. monday work management stands out from the rest by making team task management easier, while also being adaptable for all functions related to executing tasks, projects, and processes more efficiently. Here’s how it excels:

• You can set up your task management views including Kanban, calendar, Gantt chart, and task list options.

• You can set rules for dynamic assignments, notifications upon task completion, and a lot more.

• You can integrate with 72+ favorite tools to make a seamless workflow.

• You can streamline communication with one place for comments, updates, and file sharing.
• When you use monday work management as a project management software , you can get a ton of insights into the success and profitability of your project tasks with dedicated and customizable dashboards.
• You can build custom workflows with no-code building blocks and choose from over 200 automation recipe options that make your team task planning so much more efficient.

Since monday work management  is built on a Work OS , it’s an all-in-one platform for everything your business needs, and can grow and scale along with it. You can use monday.com as a CRM for the sales team, create processes and workflows for marketing content, onboard new employees, and manage IT requests.

What is task management software used for?

Task management software is used to organize teams' workflows and projects by assigning tasks and tracking progress. It enables teams to collaborate more efficiently, reduce their reliance on email, and focus instead on progress tracking and delivery.

What are the benefits of team task management?

Teams who use task management software will enjoy the following benefits:

1. Increased clarity & visibility: Team task management is all about accountability. Each team member should know who is working on what, the requirements, and the time frame for the task. When mapped out for everyone involved, managing time, prioritizing tasks, and reassigning work becomes easier.

2. Reduced stress: Task management can prevent a lot of frustration because it relieves your team of questions like “Who is the owner of that task?” or “How can I prioritize my other work in accordance with this project?”

3. More data points for accurate project reporting: Task management isn’t just crucial for project planning and execution—it also comes in handy with post-project analysis. For example, if you’re managing cross-company content requests, you can track details like task completion date and department to get a big picture of demand over time.

4. Boosted productivity: 82% of people rely on a list or an email inbox as their means of task management. Surely there is a better way? Task management helps you accurately take stock of your tasks and assign priorities and deadlines. You can spend more time doing what matters most instead of searching for what to do next.

What is the simplest way of managing tasks?

Here are some classic steps for team task management, no matter what tool you decide to use:

1. Make a list of your team’s required tasks: Add additional details, such as which are recurring vs. one-off. Use a start and end date as your boundaries. 2. Add task deadlines and timeframes: This is critical information before you assign tasks to your team. Be sure to leave enough time for execution and feedback. 3. Assign task priorities: Different priority levels, such as low, medium, and high, provide a more granular view of what's important for your team. They can also help you refine due dates. 4. Note other relevant task information: You might include task dependencies, important files, or related client information. 5. Assign each task to a team member: Review each team member’s workload to ensure no one has too much on their plate. 6. Track your team’s progress: Check in with your team regularly to see if you need to make any adjustments.

monday work management can help you manage and automate many of these steps.

What are the 4 types of tasks?

To determine which tasks are a priority, some teams use the Eisenhower Matrix, which divides tasks into those that are:

1. Urgent and important, for example, if a deadline for a critical project is due today 2. Not urgent but important, for example, arranging a long-term planning and strategy development session 3. Urgent but not important, for example, attending a team social meeting in your calendar 4. Not urgent and not important, for example, browsing your social media feed.

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How to Make a Responsibility Assignment Matrix for a Project (Template Included)

The most important resource you’ll employ to deliver the project is people. They have to fit into the schedule and maintain the project budget. Defining what their roles and responsibilities are when executing tasks and delivering on the project goals is an important part of controlling the project.

How can you coordinate all the people who are involved in a project so they know what they’re doing and don’t block others from doing what they are assigned? Using a responsibility assignment matrix can help. An assignment matrix gives your project a team that gets things done.

What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix in Project Management?

A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a project management chart used to identify and define the various people and organizations and outline each of their roles in working on tasks or delivering a part of the project.

Project managers use an assignment matrix to clarify what cross-functional teams do within the boundaries of the project and its numerous processes. Sometimes a responsibility assignment matrix is required when responding to a request for proposal (RFP).

The responsibility assignment matrix can also be called a RACI matrix, which stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

• Responsible: Notes who is responsible for executing the task, which is then assigned to them.
• Accountable: Notes who has decision-making authority and how that power is delegated throughout the project team.
• Consulted: Notes who is able to offer insight into the task, from team members to stakeholders.
• Informed: Notes who is updated on what in terms of progress and performance, as well as when and how this information is disseminated.

This creates a map of connections between activities and project team members. Depending on the size of the project, there can be several assignment matrices used for various project levels.

Why Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix?

The assignment matrix identifies what everyone on the team is responsible for, which means not only what their duties are, but how they participate in the project. Some will have defined tasks, others will offer help with work, while there are some who are designated as decision-makers. These groups all have an identity and function within the project to help guide it towards a successful end.

Clear communication leads to more efficient projects. An assignment matrix facilitates better communication between team members and provides transparency by creating a system to make sure everyone is updated and always on the same page. Belaboring communications can bog down a project with too many pointless meetings and confusing interactions in which people try to understand what they’re supposed to be doing. Using the responsibility assignment matrix helps, but having project management software that connects teams in real-time is ideal.

ProjectManager manages project information by allowing teams to attach files directly to tasks, and our unlimited file storage keeps important project documents at your fingertips anywhere, anytime. Commenting on tasks can save time and tagging others in the project team creates a communication process that avoids the pitfalls of redundancies or unnecessary meetings.

When Should a Responsibility Assignment Matrix Be Created?

The responsibility assignment matrix would be created at the start of the project. You’d want to have everyone on the project team aware of where they stand in terms of their involvement before they start executing tasks.

As much as its use is a preventative measure, it can be used prescriptively. If you’re deep into the project and things are not moving as planned, there could be communication gridlock. If team members are not in the loop, or misconstrue what they’re supposed to be doing, using a responsibility assignment matrix might untie up those knots in the communication channel.

If there’s a problem with leadership overruling suggestions on how to advance the project and this is seen as a problem, it’s likely that the roles and responsibilities of the project team need refining. The responsibility assignment matrix defines who has authority to make decisions and using it or revisiting can determine if the right people are in that position.

In fact, any of the definitions might need reexamining at any phase in the project. Perhaps tasks are falling behind schedule. This could be because team members aren’t aware of what tasks they own. Anytime a delay occurs, returning to the assignment matrix is a good first step, even if you went through the process as you should during the planning stage of the project.

How to Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix

The actual making of a responsibility assignment matrix is not as difficult as getting everyone on board with what their roles and responsibilities are.

Therefore, you want to include your team in the process, get their input and eventually buy-in without spending too much time and energy on the process. Follow these steps to make sure everyone is in agreement and you’ll have a successful responsibility assignment.

• Identify all the participants involved in the project, from team members to stakeholders and everyone in between.
• List all deliverables associated with the project. Use a work breakdown structure to make sure you don’t miss any.
• Meet with team members on how to execute the tasks to create the deliverables. Every task needs to be discussed in terms of the team’s responsibility and authority.
• Draft the responsibility assignment matrix using a table with the project tasks listed on the left-hand column. Across the top add the name of everyone in the project.
• Where the tasks meet the project team member, assign whether they’re responsible, accountable, consulted or informed.
• When completed, share the responsibility assignment matrix with the project team and stakeholders and hold a meeting if necessary to make sure everyone understands their part in the project. If you’re working in a shared space, print out a copy and post it.

Free Responsibility Assignment Matrix Template

Using a RACI template is a shortcut that sets up your team and the project for success. ProjectManager is more than an award-winning software that organizes tasks, teams and projects to streamline work and boost productivity, it’s also the online hub for all things project management.

Among the hundreds of blog posts, guidebooks and tutorial videos are dozens of free templates that can help you through every phase of your project’s life cycle. Using our free RACI template will help you guide all the project teams better, allowing them to know where they stand in relation to the project and what their level of responsibility and accountability is.

Use it at the start of the project to avoid delays and untangle any communicative knots that are preventing the project from progressing as planned. To keep your project on track, download our free RACI template and get a head start on building a workable responsibility assignment matrix.

Best Practices

Using our free RACI template is a good start, but you have to make sure you fill it in correctly. A responsibility assignment matrix is only as good as the effort put into creating it. Here are some best practices to apply when you’re in the process of building your assignment matrix.

• Involve the team: They’re the ones who will be executing the work. You want their input and buy-in to avoid any costly mistakes or time-consuming questions about what wasn’t made clear at the beginning of the project.
• Identify every single task: Identify all the tasks required to reach your final deliverable. Once you have that thorough list make sure that there is only one person on the team who is accountable.
• Update your RACI regularly: Make sure that each new one is clearly marked as the most current version and is distributed to everyone on the team. There will be times when you’ll want to revisit the responsibility assignment matrix or changes in personnel will require an edit.
• Share responsibility viably: One person shouldn’t have to shoulder the bulk of the responsibilities for the project and you want to give authority throughout the project team and not just among the very top management team.
• Optimize tasks: Managers can use the RACI matrix to see if too many team members have been assigned to a task. Maybe these workers could be spread out for greater productivity. There could be too many people listed as consulted, which slows down the process. The assignment matrix is endlessly useful.

How ProjectManager Helps You Manage Projects Better

ProjectManager is a cloud-based tool that connects everyone in real-time to facilitate planning, monitoring and reporting on the project. It works to give everyone on the project team a job and the knowledge as to where they have authority and when to consult others, as well as defining the reporting process.

Let’s look at the people who are responsible, for example, the team who execute the project. Once invited into the software, you can share the project plan, assign them tasks, add detailed direction, add a deadline and tag for priority and more. The teams can then collaborate by attaching files and images to the tasks and commenting in real-time to work better together.

Those who need to stay informed of the project can do so by also getting invited into the project and sharing plans and schedules with them. Stakeholders can stay updated with reporting features that can generate reports on project variance, cost, time and more with one click. Then share them as a PDF. Reports can even be quickly filtered to zero in on the data stakeholders are interested in.

The responsibility assignment matrix can help you reallocate your resources when things aren’t progressing as planned. Use our software to get further insight. The resource management features include a workload chart that’s color-coded so it’s easy to see who has too many tasks and who can take on more work. Then you can simply reallocate those resources from the workload page to help your team work more productively.

ProjectManager gets you organized, keeps your team focused on their tasks and stakeholders in the loop. Gain efficiencies throughout every aspect of your project’s life cycle with an online Gantt chart to schedule work and kanban boards, a visual workflow feature that provides transparency into production. All that and it’s on a collaborative platform to keep everyone connected. Try ProjectManager today for free.

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• Product Management

8 Reasons to Use a RASCI Chart on Your Project

There are many tools that help to organize projects, processes, and own tasks, such as ToDo lists, Kanban boards, spreadsheets, task management systems, chats, emails and various communication tools. And they all can be pretty effective. However, oftentimes, when organizing work, we do not think beyond the “task assignee” concept as we associate a task only with a person who’ll fulfill it.

More than that, most common project management tools usually have one field for an assignee, which also gives the impression that there are no other roles apart from the person who does the task and, perhaps, a manager who can answer questions or provide details.

But the reality of modern projects is much more complex, and many more people are involved, usually implicitly. This is where a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), like RACI or RASCI, comes in handy. Such a matrix takes into account all the roles involved and makes it clear what roles and people are involved and in which way. In this post, we talk about the most popular responsibility assignment chart, benefits a team can get when using it, a step-by-step instruction to create such a chart for your team, and some RASCI matrix examples from our experience.

What is a RASCI chart

RASCI chart is a popular management tool to categorize participants and define their roles and responsibilities within a project or process. The origin of the tool is clearly unknown. However, it is often associated with the project management approach called “Goal Directed Project Management” (GDPM) that got its fame in the 1980s after the publication of Kristoffer V. Grude, Tor Haug and Erling S. Andersen’s works. 

RASCI is a more modern version of the original RACI chart that was meant to define responsible, accountable, consulted , and informed stakeholders for each critical task on a project. The difference between RACI and RASCI charts is in the additional role ( supportive ) that the RASCI chart acquired over the time. Here’s what each role means in a RASCI chart:

• Responsible – is a person who drives the project and the team to achieve the intended goal. Holding that role, a person will be in charge of making an important decision, overcoming blockers, leading the team to do the right thing, and deciding what NOT to do. Responsibility can be shared but cannot be passed to another person. 
• Accountable or Approver . A person holding this role is answerable for the success and completion of the project while having the least involvement in implementation but the most in the decision-making process. The Approver will contribute ideas, knowledge and anything else that can help the Responsible and the team make the right decision and achieve the goal. In rare cases, an Approver can jump into the critical part of work. Check out our article on how to keep balance between authority, responsibility and accountability , to avoid most common mistakes in project management.
• Supportive . This role supports a Responsible in project implementation/delivery. People holding this role can be involved to varying degrees. Supportives may become a workforce buffer for the team to deliver projects on time.
• Consulted – are usually subject matter experts that want a Responsible to talk to them before the final decision is made. Consulted roles will contribute their opinions or knowledge as holders of context. They don’t do any work but may be involved in decision-making. 
• Informed . An Informed will want a Responsible to provide them with updates on the progress of the project. People who have been committed to being Informed will get passively updated on the critical project decisions and the key turns.

This model is very flexible, and based on the project size and nature some roles can be added or omitted. At Railsware, we use the RAtSCNIuo chart with some extra roles which we will discuss a bit later.

How a RASCI chart looks like

A classic RASCI chart consists of project tasks that are listed in the left column, while all the team members necessary to complete a project are mentioned in the upper line in the chart, and the roles that the team members hold are indicated as letters – A, R, S, C, and I.

As you can see from the chart, one participant can hold different roles on different tasks of one project. For instance, a CTO can approve some tasks, be consulted and informed on other tasks.

8 reasons why you need a RAM on your project

When creating a RACI or RASCI chart for your team, you get a powerful tool for efficient project management that contributes to smooth cooperation in cross-functional teams. Below are the things that a RASCI chart brings:

1. Simplified communication 

Without knowing who is responsible for what, a team will eventually face misunderstandings, mistakes, and sometimes even conflicts. It happens when new members join the team, when workers are engaged in several projects, or when one specialist passes their work to another one. With a RASCI chart, all team members have a single source of information they can address throughout the entire project. 

2. Fast decision-making

A responsibility assignment matrix clearly defines who is the Responsible and Approver of a task, which then makes it obvious whom to contact for implementation and decision-related questions.

We’ve tried and tested multiple decision-making frameworks over the years, and made sure to let you in on our thoughts. Check out the linked article where we put them in action with the same use case.

3. Better work coordination

When all the roles are clear, each team member knows what tasks they are responsible for, and whom to contact for which questions, they can start working straight away. Responsible people are aware of who they should consult, who will approve their task, what to do next, and what’s the goal and expected result of the project. They understand the workflow and don’t waste time searching for the necessary stakeholders.

4. Risk mitigation

The development of a RASCI chart requires you to decompose the project into smaller chunks of work and share responsibilities among team members. By doing so, you see the scope and what part each specialist is responsible for, which decreases your chances of missing something. It also shows whether you have enough resources/talent to complete the project.

5. Better workload distribution

The chart is also easy to analyze to see how many areas of responsibility each person has. It’s a simple way to determine if a team participant has too many responsibilities and, if so, prevent specialists from burning out or leaving some tasks incomplete by redistributing the workload.

6. Saved resources

RASCI chart allows for a more efficient workflow that reduces reworks, pauses, duplicated tasks, or, conversely, non-completed tasks.

7. Easier to manage changes

The Agile development methodology lets teams adjust project scope during the development. When using a RASCI chart, a team can easily track who will be affected by each change and how team members’ workload will vary.

8. Fast conflict resolution

A RASCI chart adds to the project management transparency. With this tool, you know the expected outcome from everyone, to which everyone committed. The chart allows a team to track back who was Responsible for a non-completed task and understand where blockers appeared. Such analysis is helpful in detecting bottlenecks and preventing them in the future.

Simple steps to create a RASCI chart 

If it’s the first time your team is creating a RASCI chart, follow the steps described in this paragraph and make it formal. Later on, you may not need to formally create it because everyone will know the process. Here are the steps to follow to create a responsibility assignment chart that your team can successfully apply:

• Define the project and its goals . Not all projects need a RASCI model to be created. If the project scope is small and can be successfully finished by one person, the chart development is a waste of time. For bigger projects RASCI chart will help to understand the workload and the team that you’ll need.
• Prioritize the project compared to other projects and tasks . When thinking about a new project, make sure its value is large enough to initiate the project. If you see that the project isn’t urgent and there are other more critical tasks in the queue, postpone it. 
• Decompose the project into smaller tasks . This step is only required if the project is big enough and includes several tasks that different team members should perform. Usually, project decomposition takes place during the product development roadmap creation . There’s no need to duplicate this step, simply take the tasks from your task management system and add them to the left column of your chart. If your roadmap is very high-level, you may want to decompose it further and use smaller tasks in the RASCI matrix.
• Define the specialists necessary to complete the project. Include all roles (e.g., project manager, designer, quality assurance engineer) that are required to successfully finish a project and list them in the upper line of the chart.
• Find people who can take each role . If you’ve got a small team with only one designer or business analyst, then it’s clear who needs to take each role. Yet, in a large company, with, let’s say, 15 designers, you need to find the right person who will fit the project. How to do that? At Railsware, we pay attention to specialists with the necessary expertise, skillset, and willingness to participate in a particular project. To simplify the team composition process, we offer our colleagues to check the list of all projects and specify their level of interest, using such commitments as “really want,” “want,” “ready to experiment,” “if really have to,” and “don’t want to participate.” The approach allows us to see if a chosen person will be motivated when performing an assigned task and also form a backup list of specialists who can replace a Responsible or other role if something happens. 
• Check the workload of each person to make sure they can participate. In our team, we don’t want specialists to participate in too many projects simultaneously as it decreases the productivity of a specialist and the project’s chances for successful completion. 
• Approve the matrix with the team . This step is especially crucial if it’s your first use of a responsibility assignment matrix. Run a short presentation of a created chart and allow your team to get familiar with it. The participants need to correlate their new responsibilities with their workload and volunteer in a project, re-balance already scheduled activities if needed, or refuse participation.

A chart itself is a handy tool. However, you shouldn’t ignore other project management tools and approaches that improve project coordination and team governance, like project management systems with assignees, dedicated communication channels with project participants, regular meetings with a team , automated business processes for budget approvals, etc.

Railsware experience with a RASCI chart

Our team has a long history of creating and using RASCI charts for both inner and external projects. Over the years, we have defined some additional roles that allowed us to distribute roles and responsibilities more accurately and achieve better outcomes. As a result, we have developed a RAtSCNIuo model. The RAtSCNIuo chart stands for responsible, approver, team, supportive, consulted, if no one else, informed, user, and occasional user . Let us explain what the new roles mean.

• Team . A specialist(s) holding this role on a project will work on a recurrent basis. Also, they will actively collect insights, do research useful for the vision or context, and collaborate with other team members or with the Responsible. The Team role has to stay on track with the project’s progress and push others to do things right. This role is usually occupied by the following positions: project manager, engineer, designer, HTML/CSS expert, copywriter, QA engineer, etc.
• If no one else . This role will identify people that are to be asked for help last of all, if no one else can assist. This would mean that the person holding this role has domain knowledge but wants to move away from the activity.
• User . Represents someone who uses the system or a project being developed and wants updates on usage-related topics.
• Occasional user . This is a rare user of the system or a project. Similar to a User, this role wants updates that are only relevant for an Occasional User. 

Not all projects require us to use all the listed roles and attract that many people, though. Each project is different. On some small projects, we may only have a Responsible and Approver.

When we create a responsibility assignment chart

It’s not mandatory to create the chart each time. Sometimes, the simpler approach works. It means you can define and confirm what role each person holds, and that’s it. No need to have the list of the tasks and the chart itself. Besides, you won’t always know the list of tasks in advance.

However, in case you think you’ll need a chart, you should start with the project’s priority. If a project appears to be less valuable than others in the queue, creating a chart for it is a waste of resources as the project needs to be postponed and, therefore, the chart is likely to be outdated by the time the project starts.

When we deal with an existing project, we create a RASCI (RAtSCNIuo in our case) chart if: the scope changes and we need to re-allocate the roles/scope; when the team composition changes and everyone needs to be reminded who’s doing what; when we see communication issues, people are lost and need this clarity.

In case of a brand new product development project, we create a responsibility assignment chart during or after the BRIDGeS discovery session. BRIDGeS is a flexible decision-making framework designed by Railsware that helps form a product vision and build a clear development strategy during one session. Find out more about BRIDGeS and the advantages a team can get using the framework .

RASCI chart examples

The Railsware team uses a RASCI model for every project that is large enough. Let’s take a look at some real-life examples from the experience of our team. 

Case 1. Organizing yearly summit

Every year, our team runs a yearly summit. This is an offline gathering that lasts a week where we get to know each other in person, build connections, collaborate, and have fun with our teammates and families.

Considering Railsware is a remote-friendly team with people from thirteen different countries, the organization of the yearly summit is a big and significant deal. The event organizer has to solve a number of problems and think through a lot of questions, like:

• Decide and agree on the destination of the event,
• Check the travel rules for a chosen destination,
• Define the number of participants,
• Organize the transfer for each teammate and their family members, 
• Find suitable accommodation for all participants,
• Create an agenda with various activities for any taste,
• Estimate and approve the budget,

and many, many other questions. The scope is obviously huge. This is why we used a responsibility assignment chart to distribute responsibilities and ensure everything would go smoothly. The questions we listed above formed a list of tasks which we placed in the left column in a RASCI chart.

	Role 1	Role 2	Role 3	Role 4	Role 5
Decide and agree on the destination of the event
Check the travel rules for a chosen destination
Define the number of participants
Organize the transfer for each teammate and their family members
Find suitable accommodation for all participants
Create an agenda with various activities for any taste
Estimate and approve  the budget

Sergey, as a Managing Director, held the role of an Approver along with Agata, the Chief Financial Officer, who validated all financial questions. The Project Lead Anastasia, was the Responsible. She had to drive the project and was liable for its outcome.

The Responsible attracted a few colleagues (specialists in different areas with relevant experience and desire to participate in the project) to help her with the research, transfer organization, agenda, and other aspects crucial for the summit. They held the Team role. We contacted Railswarians who participated in organizing Yearly Summits in the past and who could help us with a piece of advice to be Consulted.

During the project, we set up several polls and discussions with all Railswarians to find out their opinion on one or another aspect related to the trip. Those who shared their ideas and suggestions also acted as Consulted. All Railswarians who decided to attend the summit became Users.

Additionally, we collaborated with an external travel agency responsible for buying tickets, booking accommodation and finding different services providers according to the event agenda. Those obtained the Supportive role.

Here’s how the final responsibility assignment chart looked for that particular project.

	Managing Director (Sergey)	CFO (Agata)	Project Lead (Anastasia)	Project team	External travel agency	Experienced peers	Railswarians
Decide the destination of the event	A	I	R	T	C	c	C/U
Check the travel rules for a destination	I	I	A	T	s		I
Define the number of participants		I	A	T
Organize the transfer for every person		I	A	R	S		U
Find suitable accommodation for everyone		I	A	T	S	C	u
Create an agenda	A	I	R		s	c	U
Estimate and agree the budget	I	A	R	T	S

Case 2. Developing user management feature for Mailtrap

Mailtrap is a Railsware product aimed at safe email testing in dev and staging environments. The tool was initially created as an MVP for the needs of our team. When Mailtrap proved its viability, our team allowed other developers to use it as well. Now, the tool has more than half a million active users and is extremely popular among both individual developers and various agencies and companies.

Mailtrap is actively growing, and our team is regularly consulting our clients to find out what functionality they lack. The more corporate clients we got, the more often we were requested a user management feature. Before, users could share access to some parts of the system manually. That was enough for individual users or small teams of 2-3 people. At the same time, agencies have many more system users, so the manual user management process took a while.  

When we saw the real need for this feature and realized its value for our corporate clients, the team decided to give it a go. Before the project started, we created a RAtSCNIuo chart.

Sergey, our Managing Director, and Yevgen, a Mailtrap Product Manager, held the role of Approvers. Julia, who is also a Product Manager on Mailtrap, agreed to become a Responsible. To develop the feature, we attracted one backend and one frontend developer. We also required assistance from a content writer to work on UI texts. These specialists were the Team on the project. While all our designers in the company were busy with some urgent tasks, we contacted an external design agency to assist us with the UI/UX of the new feature. Last but not least, project participants were Mailtrap users who tested the feature and shared their feedback.

Here’s how the responsible assignment chart looked for this project.

	Managing Director (Sergey)	Mailtrap product manager (Yevgen)	Product Manager (Julia)	Team (developers and a content writer)	External design agency	Mailtrap users
Create user stories for the feature	I	A	R	T	C
Estimate the scope of work	I	A	R	T	C
Develop the backend part of the feature	I	A	R	T	I
Develop the frontend part of the feature	I	A	R	T	I
Create the design for the feature	A	C	R	T	C
Write texts for the feature UX	I	A	R	T
Test the feature with real users	I	A	R	I	I	U

Case 3. Upgrading error messages on the Plans & Pricing Page

This case is also connected with the Mailtrap product. Mailtrap offers its users a free subscription plan and several paid ones. Our data analyst constantly checks the conversion rate and detects aspects that have a negative impact on it. After one of the inspections, we found out that the error message free users saw when trying to use a paid feature was confusing and turned customers off.

Clients not only couldn’t understand what features they might use and which features were unavailable, but they also didn’t see the value a paid feature could bring and, thus, didn’t have an incentive to upgrade their subscription plan to a paid option.

To solve the issue and increase the conversion rate, our team initiated a corresponding project. The Approvers remained the same as on the previous project (Sergey and Yevgen) as well as the Responsible (Julia). We also required a content writer to create new, clear and appealing texts, a designer, front- and backend developers, and a data analyst for this project. All these specialists held the role of the Team.

Our team contacted a native speaker to check out texts and make sure they are straightforward and can’t be misinterpreted. This person held the role of a Consulted, as it was a one-time job. Also, we shared our findings with the team of marketing experts, as they might be interested in the project results. So, we added them to our responsibility assignment chart. Here’s how it looked.

	Managing Director (Sergey)	Mailtrap product manager (Yevgen)	Product Manager (Julia)	Team (developers, designer, data analyst, content writer)	Native speaker	Marketing team	Mailtrap users
Clarify the issue with customers	I	A	R	I		I	C
Create a tech task for a content writer		A	R	T	I
Proofread text to ensure it’s clear		I	A	R	C
Create the design for this message	I	A	R	T
Develop front- and backend	I	A	R	T
Check conversion after messages update	I	A	R	T		I
Run customer interview to get feedback	I	A	R	T		I	U

All these charts helped us to launch, manage, and successfully finish each particular project. To create the charts, we followed the steps shared above and some best practices you also need to know about.

Do’s and Don’ts when creating a RASCI Matrix

• Don’t use names. Use the positions . Meaning, it’s better to write the position of a specialist required on a project (backend developer, designer, project manager) in the upper line in a chart instead of names because roles are static, but people can change.
• Assign one Accountable per task . Accountability can’t be delegated. There should be only one person to hold this role. Each task should have an Accountable person.
• Leave some cells empty . It’s okay when a chart has some blank spaces. The most important roles are Approver and Responsible, all others can be omitted. Don’t involve unnecessary people just because you don’t have a Consulted or Informed in your chart. It’s better to maintain the team small. Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep everyone focused. 
• Check your matrix when approving with the team . Make sure each person understands their responsibilities and that there is a commitment from them. Don’t just assume that they accept their role. It may happen that some people can’t participate, some aren’t interested in the project, or you may find a new person who fits the project better.
• Define a clear communication channel . Make sure that everyone on the team knows who has each role and how they are going to communicate with each other.
• Check periodically that the process is working and every role performs as it should . Simply planning the matrix doesn’t mean that the process will work on its own. Regularly get feedback from project participants and modify the chart if necessary.
• Get back to the matrix and update it when/if roles and tasks change. The projects can change as well as the team composition. To get all the benefits of a RASCI chart, it needs to contain only up-to-date information.

Wrapping up

A responsibility assignment chart is a relatively easy-to-use tool with a bunch of significant advantages. Developing a chart doesn’t take a lot of time, especially if you’ve done it before. When using a RASCI chart for your project and your team, the most important rule is to make sure that a person agrees with the role and responsibilities they were assigned. Also, it’s totally ok to modify the chart and tailor it to the needs of each particular project, as our team does. 

If you want to know more on how Railswarians compose teams, ensuring a high level of engagement and motivation, read our blog and subscribe to our Youtube channel !

How to Create a Task Tracker in Excel: Free Template

Checking tasks off your to-do list feels pretty awesome, right? If only everything in life gave you that instant sense of accomplishment!

A task list earns its keep by helping you schedule, assign, and track all the work that needs to be done for a project. You can also use it to give stakeholders and team members at-a-glance updates on project progress.

With our free Excel task checklist template, you can keep up with all the to-dos you need to knock out—whether you’re focused on an important work assignment or just want to finish up a few projects around the house. We’ve done all the hard work so you can have all the fun marking things done.

Ready to get started? We’ll show you just how easy it is to take your task list from to-do to ta-da! Here’s what we'll cover:

How to create a task tracker in Excel

How to customize your task list template, how to create an online task tracker in teamgantt.

Let’s start with a simple tutorial on how to keep track of tasks at work using Excel.

1. Download our free Excel task tracker template

At TeamGantt, we know how important it is to ensure projects get done on time and on budget. That's why we created this Excel task list template to make tracking project progress a breeze.

Make this task tracker template your own by adding to-do list items and tasks, assigning task owners, and tracking task status, budgets, and costs.

Download your free Excel task tracker template

2. Add to-do list items and tasks

First, find the T ask Name column on your worksheet, and enter a descriptive name for each task you want to track for a particular day of the week.

3. Indicate the status of each task

This sample to-do list template features four different status options—with icons as easy visual cues—so you can see where each task is at a glance: Not Started , In Progress , Complete , and On Hold .

To assign a status to a task, click on the status dropdown menu in that task’s row, and choose the status that applies to the task you’re working on.

4. Set task due dates

Set clear expectations for your team by entering the deadline for each task in the Due Date column.

5. Assign task owners

Start by specifying which team or department will carry out the work using the Task Type column. Then pair each task with its rightful owner by entering the team member’s name into the Assigned to column.

6. Include task budgets and costs

Use the Hours Budgeted column to let team members know how much time has been budgeted for each task.  

‍Once a task is complete, log the time spent on it in the Actual Hours column.

Tracking daily and monthly tasks in Excel

We’ve designed this task tracker template to track your weekly to-do list. But you can create additional task lists for monitoring daily and monthly to-dos.

Click Insert > Sheet > Blank Sheet to add a new worksheet. Then give each row and column a header label, and use the formatting tools to design your own daily or monthly task tracker.

Once you’ve got the basics squared away, feel free to customize your Excel task list template to ensure it fits your project needs. You can add a title, switch up the colors, add or delete new rows and columns, or even dress your to-do list up with your company logo.

Adding titles

We’ve titled this checklist template “Weekly Task List.” As exciting as that moniker may be, we bet you’ll want to give your to-do checklist your own snazzy (and specific) name.

1. To add or edit the title of your project task list template, double-click your cursor into cell A-2.

2. Enter a new title for your task list. Feel free to include the project name and date range in your title so there’s no doubt what this task tracker covers.

3. Format the header text using the same formatting tools you’d use to format any other text in the worksheet.

Changing colors

Want to apply your own brand colors to your task list? Or make it easy to tell Tom’s tasks from Bill’s? No problem!

1. Click to highlight the cell, row, or column you want to change.

2. Go to Format > Cells , and select the Fill tab.

3. Click on the Background Color dropdown, and choose the new color you want to apply to the cell, row or column you’ve highlighted.

Adding rows/columns

We’ve outlined a few basic to-do list categories to get you started. But there may be other details you need to track along the way. For example, you might want to add a priority column. Or maybe your Monday has a lot more to-dos than the other days of the week.

1. To insert a new row, click Insert > Rows . A new row will be added above the one you currently have selected, using the same formulas and formatting of the row above.

2. To insert a new column, go to Insert > Columns . A new column will be added to the left of the one you currently have selected, using the same formulas and formatting of the column to the left.

Removing rows/columns

We may have included details you simply don’t need to track. That’s okay! Deleting extra info won’t hurt our feelings a bit.

1. To delete an existing row, click on the row you want to remove. Go to Edit > Delete , and choose Entire Row .

2. To delete an existing column, click on the column you want to remove. Go to Edit > Delete , and choose Entire Column .

Adding a company logo

Want to give your project task list template some more flair? Add your company logo to the worksheet.

1. Right-click on the TeamGantt logo/header image in row 1, and select Change Picture .

2. Choose the image file you want to add to the worksheet, and click the Insert button.

Printing the to-do list template

By the time you finish customizing your to-do list template, it’ll be so pretty you just might want to print it out and pin it to the wall—and we don’t blame you.

1. First, let’s set the print area. Simply click and drag your cursor to highlight all the cells you want to print out. Then go to File > Print Area > Set Print Area.

2. If you want to adjust the scale of the checklist to fit on a single page, click on the Page Layout tab. Then go to Margins > Custom Margins and select the Page tab.

3. Once you’ve set the print area and adjusted the scale of your checklist, you’re ready to send your task list to the printer. Click File > Print.

Additional resources

• Project management template library : Use these simple templates in any industry to plan and manage projects, identify and mitigate risk, and communicate effectively at every project step.
• ‍ Gantt chart Excel template : Save time organizing your project plan with our premade Excel gantt chart template! Simply plug in your tasks and dates, and you'll have a presentation-quality Excel gantt chart.

Want to take the tedium out of task lists? Give TeamGantt’s online gantt chart software a try , and create a customized task tracker in minutes.

With TeamGantt, it’s easy to collaborate on work and streamline workflows. Here are just a few of the handy features you—and your team—will have at your fingertips:

• Drag-and-drop simplicity
• Reusable project plan templates
• Project dependencies
• File storage
• Time tracking
• Resource management
• Planned vs. actual timelines

And because TeamGantt is all online, everyone on the team can update tasks in real-time. No more juggling a million different spreadsheets or scrambling to capture last-minute updates before a big meeting!

Sign up for your free account and get started. (No strings attached, we promise!) Once you’re in, here’s a sneak peek at just how easy it is to create and manage task lists in TeamGantt.

Setting up your task list project

Before you can set up tasks, you’ll need to answer a few quick onboarding questions and then create a new project.

1. Start by entering a descriptive name for your project on the project setup page. We called our example project “Weekly Task List.”

2. Then, choose a new Start Date , if you want your list to begin on a day other than today.

3. Next, decide whether you want to start from scratch with a blank project or choose a template from our handy library of pre-built options . To make things super easy for you, we created a Weekly Task List template .

Simply click on the Preview templates icon, expand the Admin & Personal category, and select Weekly Task List to preview the template. If you’d like to use it, select Use Template in the bottom right corner of the window.

4. If not, feel free to choose a different template option or click anywhere outside of the preview window to return to the Create a new project page.

5. Next, select which days of the week you want to assign and track work for this project. The default is Monday through Friday, but you can choose any configuration of days that make sense for your work schedule.

6. Finally, select Create new project to save your changes and get to work.

Adding and editing task lists

Now that you have a project, it’s time to set up your task list! We chose the Weekly Task List template for our example, which gives us a labeled task group for each day of the week.

1. Simply click on each task group field, if you want to rename it.

2. If you need to add more task groups, click +Group of Tasks , and enter the name of your new task group in the blank field that appears below.

3. To add a new task, click +Task and enter a name in the blank that appears below. Then, use the drag-and-drop features to adjust the timelines for each task .

4. To delete a task, hover over it and select the trashcan icon that appears to the right of the task name.

Assigning team members

To invite other users to your project, select the People tab in the top navigation bar of your project. Then, select Invite People to add new users by name and email address.

Once a user has been added to your project, designate them to a task by clicking assign in the Assigned column and selecting the checkbox next to their name.

Here’s an in-depth tutorial on how to invite users and assign them to tasks .

Creating dependencies

Dependencies enable you to control the order of tasks in your project. If one task has to wait for another to get done before it can begin, the dependency will account for that. For example, a designer may not be able to design a landing page until the content’s been written.

1. To add a dependency, click on the gray dot to the right of the first task in the gantt chart.

2. Then drag the dependency line to connect it to the dependent task below.

Changing task colors

To change the color of a task, hover over the task, and choose a new color by clicking on the colored square that appears to the right of the task.

Ready to discover just how easy and fast task tracking can be?

This is just a preview of all the fun you can have with task lists on TeamGantt—but there’s so much more to see!

Sign up for your free TeamGantt account today to learn all about the project management possibilities you could have at your fingertips.

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How to Create a Gantt Chart: Complete Guide with Templates

Gantt charts are an essential tool in project management, providing a visual timeline for tasks and milestones. Whether you’re managing a small team or overseeing a large-scale project, Gantt charts can simplify complex processes and improve communication among stakeholders. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about creating a Gantt chart, from understanding its components to templates and best practices.

What is a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that represents a project schedule. It illustrates the start and finish dates of various elements of a project, including tasks, subtasks, and milestones. It plots tasks against a timeline, showcasing each task’s start and end dates, dependencies, and overall progress. This visual representation helps project managers and teams understand the flow of tasks, prioritize activities, and track milestones effectively. It is useful for managing complex projects with numerous tasks and dependencies.

• Ready to use
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Brief History of Gantt Charts

The Gantt chart was developed by Henry Gantt in the early 20th century. Initially, it was designed to streamline the production processes within factories. Over time, its application expanded beyond manufacturing to various industries, becoming a cornerstone of modern project management.

• Construction : Used to plan different phases of construction projects and manage everyday tasks.
• IT and software development : Assists in roadmap planning, bug tracking, and feature release scheduling.
• Education : Helps in curriculum development and tracking academic projects.

Key Components of a Gantt Chart

• Tasks and subtasks: These are the individual activities that need to be completed as part of the project. Tasks are usually broken down into smaller, more manageable subtasks.
• Timelines: Each task and subtask is associated with a specific start date and end date. The timeline helps in visualizing the duration of each task and the overall project.
• Milestones: Milestones are significant points or events in the project timeline, such as the completion of a major phase. They are typically represented as diamond shapes on the chart.
• Dependencies: Dependencies show the relationships between tasks, indicating which tasks must be completed before others can begin. This helps in identifying the sequence of activities and potential bottlenecks.
• Resources: Resources refer to the personnel, equipment, or materials required to complete tasks. Assigning resources to tasks helps in managing workload and ensuring availability.

How to Create a Gantt Chart

Creating a Gantt chart is a straightforward process that involves defining your project’s tasks, timelines, and dependencies. Follow these steps to create an effective Gantt chart:

1. Define the project scope

Start by clearly outlining the objectives and deliverables of your project. Understand what needs to be accomplished to set the foundation for your Gantt chart. This includes detailing the overall goal of the project, the key deliverables, and the expected outcomes. Having a well-defined project scope helps in ensuring that all necessary tasks are accounted for and provides a clear direction for the project.

2. List tasks and subtasks

Break down the project into smaller, manageable tasks and subtasks. This step helps in organizing the project and identifying all necessary activities. Each major deliverable should be divided into actionable tasks, and if needed, those tasks should be further broken down into subtasks. This granular approach ensures that nothing is overlooked and that each task is specific and actionable.

3. Establish timelines

Assign start and end dates to each task. Make sure that the timelines are realistic and consider the overall project duration. When establishing timelines, take into account factors such as resource availability, potential risks, and any external dependencies. It’s crucial to set achievable deadlines to keep the project on track and avoid unnecessary delays.

4. Identify dependencies

Determine the relationships between tasks. Identify which tasks depend on the completion of others and illustrate these dependencies with arrows or lines. Understanding task dependencies is vital for sequencing activities correctly and ensuring that tasks are performed in the right order. This helps in preventing bottlenecks and ensures a smooth workflow throughout the project.

5. Assign resources

Allocate the necessary resources, such as team members and equipment, to each task. This helps manage workloads and ensure the availability of resources. Clearly defining who is responsible for each task, and what resources are required, helps in balancing the workload and avoiding resource conflicts. It also provides clarity to the team on their specific roles and responsibilities.

6. Set milestones

Identify significant points in the project timeline and mark them as milestones. Milestones are key events or deadlines that help in tracking the project’s progress. These could include the completion of major phases, important meetings, or delivery dates. Setting milestones provides checkpoints to monitor progress and celebrate achievements, helping to keep the team motivated and focused.

7. Create the Gantt chart

Use Gantt chart software or tools like Creately to create the chart. Enter the tasks, timelines, dependencies, resources, and milestones into the tool. Creately provides features such as drag-and-drop scheduling and collaborative functionalities, making it easier to create and maintain the Gantt chart.

8. Review and adjust

Regularly review the Gantt chart to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments. Ensure that the chart is up-to-date with the current project status and adjust timelines, resources, or tasks as needed. Periodic reviews help in identifying any deviations from the plan and taking corrective actions promptly. It also allows for reallocation of resources and adjustment of schedules based on the actual progress and any new developments.

Gantt Chart Examples

Gantt charts can be adapted to fit any type of project, from software development and marketing campaigns to construction projects and event planning. Here are some Gantt chart examples to get you started.

Explore more Gantt chart templates .

When to Use Gantt Charts

Gantt charts are incredibly useful for various aspects of project management.

• Project planning and scheduling: Gantt charts are ideal for visualizing project timelines and ensuring all tasks are accounted for. They help in setting and tracking deadlines, keeping the project on schedule.
• Task management: They are excellent for organizing the project into manageable tasks and assigning responsibilities. Gantt charts also allow you to monitor progress, helping you identify which tasks are on track or delayed.
• Resource allocation: Use Gantt charts to assign team members and equipment to specific tasks. They help in balancing workloads and identifying potential resource conflicts.
• Identifying dependencies: Gantt charts show relationships between tasks, helping you plan the sequence of activities. They allow you to focus on critical tasks that directly impact the project’s completion date.
• Milestone tracking: Gantt charts are useful for highlighting and tracking significant project milestones.
• Communication and collaboration: They keep stakeholders informed about project progress and enhance team communication with a clear visual project plan.
• Managing large projects: For complex projects, Gantt charts provide a comprehensive view of all tasks and timelines.
• Risk management: Gantt charts help in identifying potential risks and their impact on the project timeline.

Who Uses Gantt Charts

Gantt charts are versatile tools used by a wide range of professionals across various industries to plan, manage, and track projects.

• Project managers: Project managers use Gantt charts to plan project timelines, allocate resources, track progress, and ensure that projects stay on schedule. They rely on these charts to visualize tasks, dependencies, and milestones.
• Team leaders: Team leaders use Gantt charts to coordinate the activities of their team members, assign tasks, and monitor progress. This helps in maintaining clarity and ensuring everyone is aware of their responsibilities and deadlines.
• Construction managers: In the construction industry, Gantt charts are essential for scheduling the various phases of construction projects, coordinating with subcontractors, and tracking progress against the planned timeline.
• Event planners: Event planners use Gantt charts to organize events, from initial planning through execution. They help in scheduling tasks such as venue booking, catering arrangements, and guest invitations, ensuring everything happens on time.
• Marketing managers: Marketing managers rely on Gantt charts to plan and track marketing campaigns. These charts help in scheduling content creation, distribution, and performance analysis, ensuring that marketing activities are well-coordinated and timely.
• Software developers: Software development teams use Gantt charts to manage development cycles, including coding, testing, and deployment phases. They help in visualizing the timeline of software projects and tracking progress.
• Researchers: Researchers use Gantt charts to plan and track the progress of research projects. This includes scheduling experiments, data collection, analysis, and report writing, ensuring that research activities are systematically organized.
• Educators and academic administrators: Educators and academic administrators use Gantt charts to plan course schedules, academic projects, and administrative tasks. They help in coordinating teaching activities, assignment deadlines, and examination schedules.
• Consultants: Consultants use Gantt charts to manage client projects, from initial assessment through implementation and review. They provide a clear timeline of activities, ensuring that client engagements are well-structured and deadlines are met.

Pros and Cons of a Gantt Chart

Gantt charts are powerful tools for project management, but they also have their limitations. Understanding the pros and cons can help you use them effectively.

• Visual clarity: Gantt charts provide a clear visual representation of the project timeline, making it easy to see the start and end dates of tasks, their duration, and the overall schedule.
• Improved planning: By breaking down the project into tasks and setting timelines, Gantt charts help in creating a detailed plan. This ensures that all tasks are identified and scheduled properly.
• Progress tracking: Gantt charts allow project managers to track progress in real-time. By comparing planned timelines with actual progress, they can identify which tasks are on track and which are delayed, enabling timely interventions to keep the project on schedule.
• Task dependencies: Gantt charts clearly show the relationships between tasks, indicating which tasks need to be completed before others can start. This helps in managing the sequence of activities and preventing bottlenecks.
• Enhanced communication: Sharing Gantt charts with the team and stakeholders helps everyone understand the project’s timeline and their roles within it. This fosters better communication and coordination.
• Milestone tracking: Gantt charts help in marking significant points or events in the project timeline, such as the completion of major phases or key deliverables, ensuring the project stays on course.
• Complexity in large projects: For very large or complex projects, Gantt charts can become unwieldy and difficult to manage. The level of detail can make the chart cluttered and hard to read.
• Maintenance: Keeping a Gantt chart up-to-date can be time-consuming, especially if there are frequent changes to the project schedule or scope. Regular updates are necessary to maintain accuracy.
• Focus on deadlines: Gantt charts emphasize deadlines and timelines, which can sometimes lead to a focus on task completion dates over other important aspects like quality or team morale.
• Limited flexibility: Traditional Gantt charts can be rigid, making it difficult to adapt to changes quickly. Although modern software offers more flexibility, the basic structure of Gantt charts can still limit their adaptability.
• Resource allocation challenges: While Gantt charts show task timelines and dependencies, they do not inherently address resource allocation conflicts or overloading. Additional tools or methods may be needed to manage resources effectively.
• Initial setup time: Creating a detailed Gantt chart can be time-consuming initially. It requires thorough planning and accurate estimation of task durations and dependencies.

Gantt Charts in Project Management

Gantt charts are essential tools in project management, offering a clear visual timeline of a project’s tasks and durations. They help project managers and teams plan, schedule, and track tasks effectively, making sure that projects are completed on time and within scope. By illustrating start and end dates, task dependencies, and key milestones, Gantt charts provide a comprehensive overview of the project’s timeline and progress, making it easy to identify bottlenecks and manage task sequences.

Gantt charts not only track progress but also improve communication and coordination among team members and stakeholders. They do this by clearly displaying the project timeline and individual responsibilities. Gantt charts also help with efficient resource allocation, ensuring that team members and equipment are used optimally. Overall, Gantt charts are essential for maintaining organization, improving communication, and achieving successful project outcomes.

Gantt Chart Best Practices

To make the most of Gantt charts, it’s important to follow best practices that ensure accuracy, clarity, and effectiveness. Here are some key tips:

• Define clear objectives: Start with a clear understanding of the project’s goals and deliverables. This helps in setting a solid foundation for the Gantt chart.
• Break down the project: Divide the project into manageable tasks and subtasks. This makes it easier to assign responsibilities and track progress.
• Set realistic timelines: Assign realistic start and end dates for each task. Consider the availability of resources and potential risks when setting timelines.
• Identify dependencies: Clearly mark task dependencies to show which tasks need to be completed before others can start. This helps in planning the sequence of activities.
• Use milestones: Include key milestones to mark significant points in the project timeline. Milestones help track progress and ensure the project stays on course.
• Regularly update the chart: Keep the Gantt chart up-to-date with the latest project information. Regular updates help in monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments.
• Communicate with the team: Share the Gantt chart with team members and stakeholders. Regular communication ensures everyone is aware of their roles, deadlines, and any changes.
• Use Gantt chart software: Use reliable Gantt chart software that offers flexibility and advanced features. Tools Creately can improve your ability to manage projects effectively.
• Monitor progress and adjust: Regularly review the Gantt chart to monitor progress. Be prepared to adjust timelines, resources, and tasks as needed to address any issues that arise.
• Keep it simple: Avoid overcomplicating the Gantt chart. Focus on essential tasks and milestones to maintain clarity and usability.

Using Creately to Create and Manage Your Gantt Chart

Creating a Gantt chart with a visual collaboration platform like Creately can streamline your project management process. It offers various features to create and manage Gantt charts effectively.

Easy-to-use interface

Creately’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for anyone to create Gantt charts, even without prior experience. You can easily add, move, and adjust tasks using drag-and-drop actions.

Templates and customization

Creately offers a variety of pre-designed Gantt chart templates to help you get started quickly. And you can easily create your Gantt chart with Creately’s advanced Gantt chart or table shape and customize the look of it with different preset color themes, shapes, fonts, and styles to match your project’s needs and preferences.

Collaboration tools

• Real-time collaboration: Team members can collaborate in real-time with synced previews and live mouse tracking, making it easy to work together on the same Gantt chart.
• Comments and annotations: Add comments and annotations with contextual comments to tasks for better communication and clarity among team members.
• Version control: Track changes and revert to previous versions if needed.
• Microsoft Teams integration : Use Creately’s Microsoft Teams plugin to connect and interact with your team as you create and manage your Gantt chart during project planning meetings.

Task management

• Task breakdown: Easily break down your project into tasks and subtasks with clear labels and descriptions.
• Dependencies: Visualize task dependencies by connecting tasks with arrows or lines to show the sequence of activities.
• Milestones: Mark significant milestones in your project timeline with distinct shapes or icons.
• Assign resources: Allocate team members or resources to each task with integrated data fields, ensuring everyone knows and gets notified of their responsibilities.
• Integrations: Creately integrates with various tools and platforms such as Google Drive, Slack, and Confluence, making it easier to incorporate your Gantt chart into existing workflows.
• Export formats: Export your Gantt chart in multiple formats, including PDF, PNG, and SVG, for easy sharing and presentation.

Gantt charts are invaluable in project management, offering a clear and organized view of your project’s timeline and progress. By following the steps and best practices outlined in this guide, you can create a Gantt chart that helps keep your project on track. Don’t forget to use available templates and software to make the process smoother and more efficient.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Organization > Start planning visually with Gantt charts

Start planning visually with Gantt charts

If you need help completing your to-do list, a Gantt chart is a helpful tool. Luckily, creating a Gantt chart on your own is easy. Keep reading to learn how a Gantt chart can keep you organized at home or in the office.

You’ve likely seen a Gantt chart before without realizing it. Gantt charts are extremely popular in office environments to aid work-related projects. Gantt charts can help plan project timelines for work projects or even personal projects, like renovating your home. Using a Gantt chart has many benefits.

What is a Gantt chart?

The Gantt chart gets its name from Henry Gantt, the American mechanical engineer who designed it. 1 Gantt charts are common project management tools for easily tracking tasks, progress, and timelines in seconds. They are also helpful for managers to track the resources and teammates required to complete a project while also helping them keep track of project start and end dates. Gantt charts are great for tracking projects of any length, whether the project will span two days or ten months.

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A Gantt chart is a type of chart that uses bars to visualize project timelines. They can track a project’s duration in days, weeks, or even months. On a Gantt chart, each task for the project is listed on the chart and represented by a horizontal bar. The chart’s X-axis is the timeline, and the Y-axis contains each task to be completed.

Some Gantt charts use unchanging solid-colored bars to provide a simple visual for project timelines, while others offer the option to update progress, which changes the color of the bar (or sections of it) to reflect that progress. For example, if you indicate that a specific task is 25% complete, a quarter of the bar might be green to represent the progress made, while the remaining 3/4ths of the bar will be red to represent the remaining work that needs to be done. This arrangement gives project managers a quick snapshot of how much work is remaining for each task.

How to make a Gantt chart

Making your own Gantt chart is easy. You can build your own using simple formulas in Excel. If you don’t have the time or advanced Excel knowledge, you can get started with a free template .

To get started on your Gantt chart, you’ll need the following:

• A list of tasks that need to be completed
• Start and end dates for each task
• Task owners and team members for each assignment

Making a Gantt chart in Excel with templates

Creating a Gantt chart is a lot easier with a template, and there are plenty of free Gantt chart templates out there. When you use a template like this one , you can change each cell in the “Activity” column to label each task. In the next two columns, input the project’s start date and end date. In columns E and F, you input the actual start dates and actual end dates. The actual start dates and actual end dates indicate when the project officially launched. For example, if you planned to repair your roof on the 5th but couldn’t start until the 10th due to a storm, the 5th would be your plan start date and the 10th would be your actual start date. You’ll see the bars on the x-axis change depending on your start and end dates. Make sure to also manually enter the percent of the project that is completed to stay on top of the assignment. Again, upload your completed Gantt chart to a shared workspace where all of your collaborators can access it and help keep it updated.

Tips for making your Gantt chart

• Color-code assignment bars based on team, assignee, or priority level. For example, you may want to make the bars for more urgent assignments red. Visual cues like these make your Gantt chart easier to understand at a glance.
• The more specific your assignments are, the better. Without adequate detail, it can be difficult to update or gauge the status of an assignment.
• Adding milestones to your Gantt chart is a great way to motivate your team and help them see how far they’ve come.

Gantt charts are a tried-and-true way to keep projects organized and keep track of a project’s start and end dates. Now that you know how to create a Gantt chart, you can manage your projects with ease.

Gantt Charting: Definition, Benefits, and How They’re Used.

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Team task assignment plan with progress chart

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by Desmond Garza

March 23, 2022

by Mason Thompson