Projects slip the RAID log is a spreadsheet that nobody opens between steerco prep sessions.
You spend Sunday night re-typing what you already know, just so the Tuesday review has a current document. The team never references it. The exec never reads it. You're the only person feeding it — which means the project doesn't actually have a RAID log. It has a status ritual.
RAID lives outside the tools the team works in.
When the spreadsheet sits in a folder nobody opens, there's no nudge to update it. No SLA on a risk. No owner on a blocker. No reminder when a decision goes stale. The artefact decays the moment you close the tab.
And because it lives outside the working day, capturing into it always feels like extra admin. So it doesn't get captured. It gets remembered, badly, the next time it's needed.
What's missing isn't a better template. It's a tool that sits where the conversations already happen — and turns those conversations into entries without anyone calling it 'doing the RAID'.
The RAID stays current as a side-effect of the day job.
- In standup
Blockers captured live
When someone says they're blocked, you log it in two taps — owner, milestone, SLA. The standup keeps moving. The blocker is now tracked.
- Mid-week
Decisions captured in flight
A trade-off comes up in a working session. You log the decision the moment it's made, with the rationale fresh. No 'I'll write that up later'.
- Before steerco
The RAID is already done
Open the RAID view. Everything captured during the week is in it, with owners, SLAs and current status. You spend Sunday night with your family.
The three surfaces a PM lives in.
Different week to a Delivery Lead. Different order of importance. Same product.
Blocker capture — two-tap entry
The fast path. Capture a blocker mid-conversation without breaking flow. Owner, milestone, SLA — done before the next agenda item.
Decision log — written in flight
Decisions captured at the moment they're made, with the rationale still warm. No reconstruction. No 'who decided that, again?' a month later.
RAID view — always current
One view that assembles itself from the week's captures. Replaces the spreadsheet you've been maintaining by hand.
Not how big the RAID is. Not how often you update it. The number that matters is whether every live risk, blocker and decision has someone responsible and a date attached — because anything without both is going to surprise you. Causr makes the orphans impossible to miss.
Topics PMs dig into next
A live operational view to replace the static RAID spreadsheet.
Read moreCapture decisions where they happen — and keep them tied to delivery.
Read moreA modern, connected RAID log template — free to use inside Causr.
Read morePractical frameworks, escalation templates, and a ready-to-use checklist for Delivery Leads.
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