A commitment states what a person or team intends to work toward.
A devotion of effort and priority toward a goal
It signals where time, attention, and resources will be directed.
A social agreement between people
Commitments exist within relationships and create shared expectations.
A statement of responsibility or ownership
It identifies who is accountable for pursuing the outcome.
A prioritization decision
Committing means choosing one outcome over competing possibilities.
A behavioral intention
It influences how decisions and tradeoffs are made during execution.
A coordination mechanism
Commitments help align the work of multiple people or teams.
A declaration of what we will try to achieve
The emphasis is on effort and pursuit, not guaranteed success.
A focus-setting signal
It guides decisions when conflicts or new work appear.
A statement that directs effort and tradeoffs
Teams use commitments to decide what to protect when capacity becomes constrained.
Is Not
Commitment IS NOT
Explanation
A forecast
Forecasts describe what is likely to happen based on evidence or data.
A guarantee of results
Guarantees assume certainty about outcomes, which commitments do not.
A capacity calculation
Capacity measures how much work a system might handle, not what it intends to pursue.
A throughput prediction
Throughput predictions estimate system output rather than human intention.
A statistical estimate
Estimates model probability, whereas commitments express prioritization.
A schedule projection
Schedule projections attempt to predict timing rather than declare intent.
A measurement of expected output
Metrics describe system behavior rather than effort or responsibility.
A risk-free promise
Commitments acknowledge uncertainty and may still fail.
A certainty about future events
The future remains uncertain even when a commitment exists.
A statement about what the system will produce
Commitments govern human effort, not system behavior.
Boundary
A commitment expresses the intention to devote effort toward an outcome; it does not predict whether that outcome will occur.
Systems
Commitment belongs to the domain of human intention and prioritization, while its near neighbors belong to the domain of prediction, modeling, or measurement.