Distinctions
Is
| Commitment IS | Explanation |
|---|---|
| A declaration of intent to pursue an outcome | 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.
Relationships
| Relationship | Concept | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| False Equivalency | Commitment vs. Guarantee | Commitment is one half of a commonly conflated pair involving promises about outcomes. |
| False Equivalency | Estimates vs. Commitments | Commitment is one half of a commonly conflated pair involving planning and work sizing. |
| False Equivalency | Forecast vs. Commitment | Commitment is one half of a commonly conflated pair involving prediction and intention. |