What is the DACI framework?
DACI is a decision-making framework that assigns four roles for a single decision: the Driver who runs the process, the Approver who makes the final call, Contributors whose input is consulted, and Informed parties who are told the outcome. Its purpose is to prevent decisions stalling because nobody knows who decides.
What do the DACI roles mean?
The Driver owns the process: framing the question, gathering input, and pushing the decision to a conclusion (one person, not a committee). The Approver holds the actual decision authority, and there should be exactly one. Contributors have relevant expertise or stakes and are actively consulted before the call. Informed parties learn the outcome after it is made, because it affects their work.
When should a team use DACI?
DACI earns its overhead on cross-functional decisions where authority is genuinely ambiguous: launches, pricing changes, shared-platform choices. It is overkill for decisions with an obvious owner. A practical trigger: if a decision has stalled for two weeks because every meeting about it ends without anyone empowered to close it, it needed a DACI from the start.
How does DACI differ from RACI and RAPID?
RACI maps roles for executing work (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) and describes ongoing tasks, not single decisions. RAPID, associated with Bain & Company, decomposes decision roles further, separating who recommends from who decides. DACI sits between them: purpose-built for decisions, light enough to assign in one message.