pricetobook ratio Commitment vs. Fo(2)

Continuous collaboration between the Development Team and the Product Owner thus leads to renegotiation of the scope of the Sprint Backlog during the Sprint; if we pay attention to the meaning of the words, this would lead us to have a broken commitment versus a non-materialized forecast。 When a commitment is broken or not fulfilled, it is usual to expect some sort of accountability, fault, or even compensation。pricetobook ratio When a forecast doesn’t come true, it is easier to think about matters such as learning from the experience, improvement and - in one word - empiricism, which at the end is what Scrum is about。

But the most important reason for the change (which is a direct consequence of the former argument), is the misuse, and even abuse, that the word commitment has suffered during lots of so called “Scrum” projects. Typically the situation arises from one –or both- of the following sources: the “business” side of the project (customer, stakeholders or even the Product Owner), or the Development Team itself.

It is not uncommon (or unreasonable, frankly) for people on the business side to hear that the Development Team has committed to deliver a list of Product Backlog Items and take it literally. They expect to have every single item delivered at the end of the Sprint, at any price. And, what is even worse, they begin making plans, assumptions and decisions based on this not yet confirmed fact. Then, if the commitment is not fulfilled, they may try to “claim their guarantee”, and ask for liable individuals. This is especially frequent when the business has not yet gotten rid of their former command-and-control, non-agile project management mindset.