Driver

The Driver is the one person who drives a team to a decision. This is the person everyone looks to for direction and for making progress. In the world of Brand and Creative this is usually the person who kicks off the project or submits intake.

The reason why there's only one driver is because there's only one vision a project can follow. Think of it like a car. You wouldn't have two steering wheels, would you? If one driver turns left and the other driver turns right, you've got a problem so you want to make sure there's one singular vision here.

That doesn't mean that this person is doing all of the work but this is ultimately the one that's accountable for getting it done.

Approver

If the Driver is the one person driving a team to a decision then the Approver is the one person that has final say over if we're driving in the right direction. The Driver and the Approver could be the same person but they don't have to be. More often than not the Driver is someone entrusted with making progress while the Approver is their boss.

And similar to the Driver, there's only one Approver because only they have an understanding of where things should head. They are the only person that truly knows when you've arrived at your destination.

In terms of the work, they may not be involved in the day-to-day but as you move along in the project lifecycle they're going to be the one who tells you that it's ok to keep pushing forward.

Contributors

Here's where things start to get interesting. Contributors are the people who will contribute to the decision-making process and there are usually more than a few of them. This group is made up of strategists, creatives, marketers, and likely all of their bosses. This group tends to balloon so try your best to keep it tight.

The biggest question in any DACI tends to be: is someone a Contributor or are they Informed? If they're subject matter experts, understand the target audience, or have an active part to play then they're Contributors. If they're just around (or loud) then they're probably Informed.

There are many ways to contribute so I think about Contributors in terms of active contributors and passive contributors.

Active Contributors

These are the day-to-day contributors to a project. They're actively making or doing research. They show up to standups, they know the data, and are the most informed on the process and timeline.

Passive Contributors

These are the people who know the project but don't actively work on it. They're a part of reviews and they give feedback but they're not doing real work on it. They'll show up from time to time to provide an opinion. That's not to say they're not invited to be active participants but usually they're execs so they're coming at this through more of a business lens.

Regardless of which group you fall into the expectation is still that you bring your expertise to the project and use that to make it better (without that you're an I). There may be things the Approver disagrees with but you still have a voice.

Informed

As a stakeholder this is my favorite group to be a part of! You're not involved in any of the work so your job is to sit back and let everyone else tell you what's going on. No reviews, no feedback, just high fives for the conquering heroes.

Depending on the scope of a project the Informed group could be a small team that needs to know the work is happening or it could be the entire company awaiting a new campaign. This is actually the group that most stakeholders need to be in and because they haven't explicitly been told that they can sit back they lean in. 

Not putting enough people into Informed is what creates scope creep, extends deadlines, and creates more stress. I promise you, the people speaking up right now don't want to but they believe they need to. And sometimes you realize that someone in Informed should be a Contributor and it's ok to move them over.

Assembling a DACI

There are all sorts of ways to build one but the easiest is a spreadsheet and that's where I recommend you start (in time you'll build it into your PM tool but don't worry about that yet).

I hope you've all seen Avengers: Endgame because I'm about to spoil it. Ant-Man comes back from the Quantum Realm with an idea, Captain America runs with it, and Iron Man is ultimately the one responsible for approving the project (and contributing to it's success). Everyone else is a contributor because they're doing the work traveling across timelines to get their respective infinity stones. At a company you'll likely have a more specific group of people to inform but let's think of this as a massive launch or campaign where everyone needs to be informed.

This alone won't solve your collaboration issues though. It's all about how you put the DACI into practice.

Bringing the DACI to Life

Setting up your DACI is just step one. The way to improve collaboration is by actually putting it into practice across the entire lifecycle of a project.

Communications

Standardizing comms within a project is critical and before we jump into meetings or reviews, we need to lay down how we communicate with one another.

Create a Slack channel for your project (D, A, C)

#ily-3000-project-name - this is a private channel where the project group operates on a daily basis. This is for the active players so you shouldn't invite the Informed. You can create a public channel too but that'll usually just create more noise.

Create an email distribution list (D, A, C, I)

This one is for everyone. I don't think you'll use it a lot. Mostly for general updates but this will be how you keep those Is informed.

Meetings

We hate 'em but we can't avoid 'em. Meetings are a way of life so it's important to make sure your getting what you need out of them. The best way to do that is to get the right people in the room.

Kickoff (D, A, C)

Every important project should have a kickoff meeting and the purpose should be to get every stakeholder on the same page. Use this time to share the data and insights, align on the goals, go over a high level timeline if you have it, and cover roles and responsibilities.

Invite everyone! Not just some people. If you want to save yourself from headaches later, make sure you're on the same page now.

Daily Standup (D, active Cs)

This is your daily check-in. It shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes and honestly it doesn't even have to be in-person (use the Slack channel). The big thing here is consistency in both sharing and format. In terms of attendees, you'll notice that the Approver and passive Contributors aren't on the list. They should be invited but don't expect them to show up—at least not every day.

One note here is if an issue or question comes up that the D can't handle it's their job to take it to the A and get back to everyone.

Review Meetings (D, A, C)

When it's time to properly share progress you need to make sure you have the full group present. If meetings are tough, you can send a loom or links or a memo. Regardless of the how, everyone needs to know where things stand before providing feedback.

Feedback Meetings (D, A, C)

This is basically part 2 of the review meeting. Where stakeholders provide feedback and next steps for the project. This is where the D and the A earn their money. Everyone will have feedback. That's just how it goes. The role of the Driver and Approver are to decide what feedback is relevant and what feedback isn't. If they disagree, the Approver is the tie breaker.

One other quick note on feedback. To make life easier for everyone involved use a sheet or form to collect consolidated feedback. This is the template I use and it's been successful. Once the deadline hits, the D and A can review in a single location and report back to the Cs. And if any feedback comes in from the Is you can probably throw it in the suggestion box...

Retrospective Meetings (D, A, C)

You knew I'd be back with this one. After a project launches find a time within the next week or two (once any post-launch bugs are addressed) to do a retro. It'll help you fix any issues within the process and team. Everyone should be invited to this one but once again don't expect the A or passive Cs to join.

DACIs and sub-DACIs

Once you get a bit more comfortable with the concept you can actually take it further to clarify more specific parts of a project. What that looks like is a high-level project DACI then a Creative DACI and a Launch DACI and Measurement DACI (and whatever other DACIs you need).

Each of these will outline specific roles within a part of the project so that everyone is clear on where they stand. It also keeps that project DACI cleaner. For example, let's say I'm a C in the project DACI for Creative, in the Creative DACI I'd be the D and A with other Creatives listed as Cs.

This is a more advanced concept and honestly isn't something to even think about unless you have 20-30+ people working on a project but I will say it's pretty cool to see those sub-DACIs and how they all ladder up.

Final thoughts on DACI

Implementing DACI will take some time especially when it comes to understanding roles and responsibilities but I promise you after 2-3 projects it'll be clear why you're doing this and everyone will be clear on what their role is. Not all stressors will be alleviated but it'll go a long way to making the work easier to do and the collaboration feel stronger.

There's pretty much two weeks left in the year and all of those "let's pick this up in the new year" conversations are coming due. My January is starting to fill up so if you're thinking about process, DACI, self-service, or creative operations, now is the time to get on the books. 2025 is looking to be a big year for The Creative Brand and I want to work with YOU.

Someone called me "The Creative Therapist" at dinner the other night and the doctor is in. Whether it be consulting or coaching, I'm here to help. Click the big blue button.