DACI

Strategy

Agile

Decision Making

Clarify who decides what. The DACI framework assigns 4 roles on every product decision to eliminate bottlenecks and speed up decisions.

Description

The DACI framework is a decision-making matrix that assigns four distinct roles, Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed, to each strategic or operational decision within a product team. Its purpose: replace collective ambiguity with explicit governance, where everyone knows exactly what their real level of influence is on the final call. Without this framework, team decision-making resembles a meeting without an agenda: everyone talks, nobody decides. DACI corrects this structural dysfunction by distinguishing two roles that organizations systematically confuse: the person who drives the decision process (the Driver) and the person who holds final decision authority (the Approver). This distinction is not cosmetic: a Product Manager can be the Driver of a launch decision without being the Approver. Contributors, subject-matter experts consulted for their knowledge, have a voice but not a vote. Informed parties receive the decision; they do not participate in it. Originally developed by Intuit in the 1980s as an alternative to RACI, DACI was popularized at scale by Atlassian through its Team Playbook. Where RACI answers "who does what," DACI answers "who decides what," a semantic shift that changes everything in a product context. Like a courtroom that clearly distinguishes the roles of the judge, the lawyers, and the jury, DACI separates those who inform the decision from the one who makes it, so the verdict is rendered rather than endlessly debated.

Objectives

Identify problems
Improve team collaboration
Ensure strategic alignment
Ensure strategic alignment

Used by

-Intuit (original creator of the framework in the 1980s, adapted from RACI for product decision-making)
-Atlassian (integration into the Team Playbook and popularization within the Agile and Product Management ecosystem)

Advantages

Unambiguous decisions. Every decision has a clear owner: no more circular discussions where nobody makes the call.
Reduced soft consensus. The Contributor role gives a voice without giving a veto, which smooths out decisions without excluding experts.
Scalability for distributed teams. DACI works equally well synchronously and asynchronously, making it effective for remote or cross-functional teams.
Post-decision alignment. Informed parties receive the context, not just the result: decisions are better understood and less contested.

Limitations

Resistance in hierarchical cultures. If the organization values consensus over speed, the single Approver rule can be perceived as authoritarian. Change management work is often necessary.
Poorly suited to complex multi-criteria decisions. For high-stakes trade-offs requiring quantitative analysis, complement with a prioritization matrix or RICE scoring.
Risk of over-administration. Applying DACI to every daily micro-decision creates bureaucracy. Reserve it for structural and cross-functional decisions.

How to apply DACI

1
Map pending decisions
List all blocked or ongoing decisions in your current product cycle (roadmap, prioritization, launch, pivot). Select the 3 to 5 most critical ones to initiate the DACI. Output: list of priority decisions to clarify.
2
Name a single Driver per decision
Designate the person who will lead the process: collect information, organize discussions, and ensure a decision is made on time. The Driver is not necessarily the decision-maker; they are the orchestrator. Output: Driver clearly designated by name.
3
Identify a single Approver
Name the one person authorized to make the final decision. The "single Approver" rule is non-negotiable: two Approvers create a co-veto that paralyzes the process. If you are tempted to name two, it means you have two separate decisions to clarify. Output: Approver validated and confirmed.
4
List the Contributors
Identify the subject-matter experts whose input is necessary for an informed decision (Tech Lead, Designer, Sales, Legal...). Limit yourself to 3-5 people: beyond that, you are creating a consensus meeting, not a decision-making process. Output: list of Contributors with their area of expertise.
5
Define the Informed parties
List the people and teams that need to be notified of the decision once it is made, because their work depends on it. They have no voice or vote in the process. Output: list of parties to inform, with the communication channel and format.
6
Document the DACI matrix
Centralize roles in a shared table (Notion, Confluence, Miro): decision, Driver, Approver, Contributors, Informed. This document becomes the official reference and prevents misunderstandings after the fact. Output: DACI matrix accessible to everyone.
7
Collect inputs from Contributors
The Driver organizes the necessary exchanges (meeting, async, Slack) so that each Contributor submits their analysis or recommendation to the Approver. Set a clear and non-negotiable deadline. Output: compiled recommendations transmitted to the Approver.
8
Decide and communicate
The Approver makes the final decision, ideally explaining the reasoning behind it. The Driver communicates the decision to the Informed parties with the necessary context for them to act. Output: decision made, communicated, and documented.