DACI Decision-Making Framework

Why do we use this framework? What are the benefits?

DACI is a structure to facilitate group decision making. The framework helps us make decisions efficiently because each team member has a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and expectations. It makes it easier to ask for help and clarification, and also to give and receive feedback.

When should we use it?

The short answer is whenever we use a Project Plan (available as a template in Google Docs). The framework is already incorporated into the template.

The longer answer is we should use it when we:

1. Work in cross-functional teams

2. Make complex decisions

3. Make decisions that impact customers and team members

4. Make decisions that have a big influence on the business

What are the specific responsibilities of each role (with examples)?

Driver

The Driver is the project leader. This is the one person who will be driving the team through decisions. They’ll be responsible for making sure all stakeholders are aware of what’s happening, gathering information, getting questions answered, and action items completed. A Driver, for example, will schedule and run project meetings, gather and distribute ideas, coordinate tasks, and track the team’s progress. Drivers ensure a decision is made but don't necessarily make the decision.

Additional Driver responsibilities:

In rotation to be the facilitator of the weekly Postmark team meeting

Provide an update on the status of the project—and any blockers/assistance needed—in the weekly Postmark team meeting.

Update the status of the projects they are driving in the Focus Plan (red, yellow, green).

Approver

The Approver has the final say on a given aspect of the project and is ultimately accountable for the project’s success. A project might have more than one Approver, but because the DACI framework is designed for speedy decision making, the fewer Approvers, the better. Approvers are typically (but not necessarily) members of the leadership team.

Contributors

Contributors are consulted for their opinions, expertise, or unique vantage points to help with project decisions. The Driver has responsibility for selecting Contributors and determining how to incorporate them into the group decision-making process—for example, whether to invite them to project meetings to share their thoughts with the team, or to gather their insights offline. Contributors are people who have knowledge that will inform the decision-making process.

Informed

The Informed group are people who are not directly involved in the project and do not impact the team’s decisions, but who want or need to be updated on the project’s progress because it might affect their own work. These are people and teams who may need to change their work as a result of the decision made and will need to know the outcome.

Other points to keep in mind:

This framework isn’t meant to complicate things. We're not going to build decision-making matrices and link weird performance metrics to it or anything. It’s meant to help us clarify who does what to make sure we don't slow down unnecessarily.

There aren’t a whole lot of rules here, but as a general guideline, each project should have only one Driver. This isn't the person who does all the work, it’s the person responsible for making sure the project keeps moving forward.

The Driver can't be the Approver. There can be more than one Approver, but to very clear about this: the Driver will still run with the project and make most of the decisions. The Approver is there to help out, provide business context, and yes, in some cases make final decisions on things.

What happens when we get stuck or are unsure of something?

The Driver is always the first point of contact for any questions. It is their responsibility to make sure the team continues to move forward. They can do this directly, through team discussions, or discussions with the Approver.

Here is a simple comparison table explaining the differences between DACI, RAPID, and RACI

Framework	Full Form	Main Focus	Key Roles (simple explanation)	Best For	Who Makes the Final Decision?
RACI	Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed	Who does the work & who is in charge of tasks	- Responsible: Does the work - Accountable: Owns the result (only one usually) - Consulted: Gives advice - Informed: Kept updated	Clear task ownership in projects & operations	The Accountable person
DACI	Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed	Fast & clear group decisions	- Driver: Leads & pushes to decide (like a project leader) - Approver: Makes the final yes/no - Contributors: Give ideas & help - Informed: Told the outcome	Quick decisions in agile or product teams	The Approver
RAPID	Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide	Complex, big-stakes decisions with many people	- Recommend: Suggests options - Agree: Must say yes (veto power) - Perform: Does the work after - Input: Gives advice - Decide: Makes the final call	Big strategic or cross-team decisions (Bain & Company model)	The Decide person

Quick summary in simple words:

• RACI = "Who does & owns the job?" (task-focused)

• DACI = "Who drives & approves the choice?" (decision speed-focused)

• RAPID = "Who suggests, agrees, & decides in big situations?" (complex & collaborative decisions)

All three help avoid confusion, but pick based on your need: tasks → RACI, fast decisions → DACI, high-stakes complexity → RAPID.