Product Management Guide to Team Management by Ramy F. Radwan RACI DACI RAPID Management Consultancy Project Management Digital Industry Software Teams Agile Scrum Governance

1. Literature Review for
“Managing Projects Effectively” Article
By Ramy F. Radwan
Background:
A product manager always struggles in the process of decision making, as it is believed
that product managers are CEOs of products with no CEO authorities. So, he needs to take the
proper decision because he will be held accountable for product performance in the end.
That is why the writer started searching in project management frameworks that aid
decision making process and make it clear to identify every person’s role and responsibility in
the team. First, a project management framework consists of the processes, tasks, and tools
used to take a project from start to finish. It encompasses all the key components required for
planning, managing, and governing projects. There are many frameworks that could utilize
different kind of projects but the writer searched for those concerned with Scrum framework as
it is commonly used in digital industry.
After searching for a while he reached three main frameworks used specifically for the
purpose he started his search for, they were RACI, DACI and RAPID, all could be integrated in a
Scrum team process. In the following parts sources behind the article will be analyzed to aid the
understanding of the article’s essence.
Objective:
Identify the best frameworks used in an Agile Scrum teams to aid decision making and
clear confusion about every person’s roles and responsibilities.

2. Categorization of resources:
1- https://www.dummies.com/
This was a simple example lead source to illustrate key differences in applying RACI
vs DACI in an Agile Scrum squad assigning roles to each member in the team
according to the corresponding matrix, and this was a rare thing to find the
application of the framework in such specific matter. Example:
This was a very straightforward way of presenting the framework to its key usage
and exactly what the writer had in mind while searching.
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3. 2- https://www.interfacing.com/rapid-vs-raci
Interfacing is a business process management consultancy firm, what is special
about this reference that it illustrated deeply the RACI framework and mentioned its
variations that were made according to need of application and made an example
for the RACI-VS variation adding (V) for Verification and (S) for Sign off. Also it
mentions DACI as a variation of RACI.
After that it illustrated RAPID in the same matter.
3- https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/project-management-raci-vs-rapid/
This reference was also concerned with RACI vs RAPID only mentioning some
examples to illustrate difference between the two frameworks in real life. On the
other hand, it had an edge comparing both frameworks in terms of pros and cons.
Discussion and Comparison:
From the three sources, some key takeaways are present after analysis:
1- Many management frameworks available to resolve conflict or confusion in process of
decision making and assigning roles and responsibilities.
2- Two main frameworks are commonly used in such cases, one of them is RACI it’s simple,
lightweight and could be made into a matrix or chart, RACI also has different variations
like RACI-VS and DACI. DACI is more decisive when deciding the decision making tree
when responsible is replaced with driver.
3- RAPID is a management tool made by Bain & Co. to clarify decision making
accountability but it needs more effort and experience as it is more complex than the
RACI variations.

4. RAPID:
Pros Cons
Excellent for making a complex and/or big
decision.
It’s overkill for smaller decisions.
The exercise of assigning people in the RAPID
roles helps gain buy-in and understanding to
the decision-making process.
It can cause great culture shock or expose
dysfunction in the larger organization.
The exercise helps to slow down rash or
siloed decision making. Too often a critical
decision is rushed through due to a sense of
urgency. Ironically, rushing a decision is the
fastest way to a sloppy solution.
The framework is inclusive and ensures the
right people will be involved at the right time
and given the right authority.
Conclusion
When going for a project, some considerations should be taken in mind before kicking off. First,
how experienced are the team carrying out the project. Second, what is more critical in this
project is it time, resources, continuous feature delivery and the environment of the project
itself whether it’s volatile and rapidly changing or not.
- If a Product Manager has a critical project with too much resources on stake, and he has
a well experienced team. Then he should go for a RAPID approach, like the IT and
Marketing example in reference three.
- If a Product Manager has a software development team with continuous disagreements
on stuff like design changes or feature priority like the example in reference one, then
he should choose a RACI variation based on the team’s experience and needs.