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PMP lesson · Project Initiation & Business Value · The organisation around the project · lesson 4 of 4 · about 6 minutes

Project roles and the RACI chart

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Goal: After this lesson you can describe the main project roles, especially the sponsor's, and build a RACI chart with exactly one accountable person per activity.

1The situation

Everyone and nobody

On the robot cell, the HMI alarm list has been “nearly finished” for three weeks. The controls lead thinks the customer owns it. The customer thinks the integrator owns it. The PM thought both were working on it together.

When everyone is a little responsible, nobody is. A simple chart would have shown, on day one, who does the work and who owns the result.

2Key roles

The exam often asks whose job something is:

Sponsor
Authority and funding
Issues the charter, champions the project, decides beyond the PM's authority, owns the business case.
PM
Delivery
Leads the team to the objectives; owns the management of the project.
Product owner
Value (agile)
Owns the backlog: what and in which order.

3Roles at a glance

Sponsor

Provides funding and authority; issues the charter; champions the project; decides beyond the PM's authority; owns the business case.

Project manager

Leads the team to deliver the objectives; plans, coordinates, communicates, manages risks and changes.

Functional manager

Owns people and technical standards in a department; negotiates resources with the PM.

Customer / user

Defines needs, accepts deliverables, realises benefits.

Team

Does the work; estimates it; in agile, decides how.

Product owner (agile)

Owns the backlog and value; decides what and in which order.
Each role has a clear focus.

4How it looks on the exam

Exam-style question 1. Ownership of an important deliverable is unclear; two team leads each believe the other is responsible, and work has stalled. What would MOST likely have prevented this?
A. A more detailed Gantt chart
B. A responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) with one accountable person for each deliverable
C. More frequent status meetings
D. A larger contingency reserve
Show the answer and the decode
Answer: B.
In simple English
Unclear ownership caused a stall.
What is the question really asking?
What would prevent it.
Key words / trigger
“each believe the other is responsible”
PMP logic
A RACI with exactly one 'A' per deliverable makes ownership explicit.
Why the wrong answer looks attractive
A Gantt chart shows timing, not ownership.

5Remember this

Your memory card

  • Sponsor: funding, authority, charter, business case · PM: delivery
  • Product owner: backlog and value (agile)
  • RACI: R does · A owns (only one) · C input before · I told after
  • Unclear ownership → one row in a RACI chart
The full lesson in the PMCLEAR app also has:
  • the rest of the lesson (The RACI chart)
  • a worked example
  • the common traps (wrong vs right)
  • 2 exam-style questions with the decode
  • a 3-question quick check
Open the full lesson → Create a free account
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