Sorting out who does what on a project would appear to be pretty basic. Clear tasks, with clear responsibilities and deadlines, is Project Management 101. But in too many projects, it remains unclear who is responsible for a deliverable until it’s too late.
The Circle Dot Chart addresses this issue. It’s a tool for getting clear on what deliverables are due, when, and who is responsible for them. The chart consists of lines that represent tasks, and circles at the intersection of tasks and functional responsibilities. It identifies key deliverables on the horizontal axis and key roles or key individuals on the vertical axis. Open circles indicate that an individual function is involved, while solid circles represent the directly responsible individual (DRI) for a given deliverable. It is essential that there be one and only one DRI.