In an earlier version of the Scrum Guide, there was a reference to a cartoon where a chicken asks a pig to start a restaurant named “Ham and Eggs”. The pig declines by stating that he would be “committed” and the chicken would only be “involved”. The guide version implied that only the three Scrum roles of Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Team were pigs and everyone else was a 
chicken. This reference was removed in the 2011 version of the Scrum Guide. To see the cartoon and learn more details about the meaning, view the discussion at AgileForAll. The results of the Sprint Planning meeting were also changed from the Team “committing” to “forecasting” which work items would be completed for the Sprint.
The reasons for the change have been discussed widely in Scrum blogs. The most common one is that “we must be agile even within a short sprint with the ability to inspect and adapt as new information becomes available”. Other reasons may be that when people commit, they may become “burned” out or become “dejected” if they do not make their commitments. Also, classifying groups of people (like managers are chickens) creates a sense of divisiveness which is not healthy to the project.
However, commit implies accountability. Everyone who has a stake in the project should be committed to striving for project success and doing what it takes. We all are pigs! Stakeholders include but are not limited to executives, customers, development, marketing, and deployment roles. Projects are more likely to be successful when everyone commits to project events such as refining the product backlog, actively participating in Sprint reviews, and maintaining software quality.
Sprints become more effective when a large percentage of items from the Sprint backlogs are completed and accepted. Completion allows the team to measure progress with a more reliable “velocity” which can help with project transparency, answering where we have come from and how much is left to go. This transparency creates a term that I label “Predictive Agile” (more about this in future blogs). When teams do not meet their Sprint goals, it often is a result of insufficient backlog grooming, that is, stories are too big, ambiguous, or have dependencies not yet met. Another reason may be that the team is struggling to be effective and stuck in a Storming Phase. Try to solve the issues by addressing in the retrospective.
Finally, it is possible to commit and still adapt. Commitment does not guarantee success but only implies “making a best effort”. Sustainability is critical so a key is to have good communication when goals are not met and work for continuous process improvement. I have always said “Scrum is a team sport, so let’s finish with another sports analogy. If you were coaching a sports team, would you want the players to “forecast” or “commit” to winning the next game. By committing, the team agrees to practice and do necessary work ahead of time to be ready for the game. The team can still adapt during the game, adjusting players or strategies. Most games are time boxed, they end when the clock signifies the end of game. The game outcome is not guaranteed, but the team should feel good about themselves if they made every effort to be successful and “played” the game to the best of their abilities. The real key to adapting is getting ready for the next game by adjusting things that can be improved. The same is true for working as a team on a Sprint.
In the 2016 version of the Scrum Guide, a section was added with commitment as one of the five Scrum values. Sounds like more pigs to me.
