What are Chickens and Pigs in Project Management?

What are Chickens and Pigs in Project Management?
Chickens and pigs are metaphorical characters used to highlight the role differences between team members in project management.
This reference comes from the well-known business fable of the chicken and the pig. In this story, the chicken suggests that the pair should open a restaurant. The pig agrees and asks what they would call the restaurant. The chicken responds: “Ham-N-Eggs.” The pig politely declines, saying: “No thanks. I’d be committed, but you'd only be involved.” For the restaurant to offer ham and eggs, the pig would have to make a huge sacrifice and die to provide the meat. However, the chicken would only have to give eggs, which is merely an offering and not a full sacrifice.
Scrum pigs and chickens
In the world of Scrum, chickens and pigs are used to describe the two different types of stakeholders:
- Chickens represent the committed stakeholders in a project who have put a lot on the line and are accountable for the entire outcome. These people could be product owners, product development team members, or even Scrum masters.
- Pigs, on the other hand, represent the non-committed stakeholders who do not have as much to lose. They are involved in the project, but they are not responsible if it fails. This category would include customers and general managers.
Scrum falls under the Agile project management family. It is a framework that helps teams work together and achieve their project deliverables. Within Scrum, there are clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The Agile chicken-and-pig fable was designed to help people distinguish between committed and non-committed stakeholders in a Scrum project.
Are chickens and pigs still used in Scrum today?
The fable of the chicken and the pig is no longer referred to in the Scrum guide to differentiate between project stakeholders. It was removed to break down potential barriers between different stakeholders and avoid any negative connotations in referring to a team member as a “chicken.” This categorization could exclude anyone who could be “critical to the success of a project.”
One of the goals of Agile project management is to work collaboratively as a team and foster better levels of engagement in your Scrum project. The Scrum chicken-and-pig story is useful for understanding commitment levels in a project, but team members should focus on their shared vision rather than what sets them apart.
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Change management in project management is the structured use of tools, processes, and leadership to manage how changes affect projects, teams, and stakeholders. It combines overseeing project work with supporting people through transitions, ensuring changes are understood, accepted, and adopted while minimizing disruption and helping projects achieve their intended goals successfully.
A cost-benefit analysis in project management compares a project’s expected benefits to its total costs to determine whether it’s worth pursuing. It gives teams a clear, data-backed view of a project’s financial viability by quantifying costs, forecasting benefits, and calculating metrics like ROI and NPV. This helps decision makers prioritize initiatives and allocate resources with confidence.
Cost control in project management is the process of monitoring and managing project expenses to make sure the work stays within budget. It includes tracking spending, planning for financial risks, and preparing for potential setbacks that could drive unexpected costs. Effective cost control helps teams avoid overruns, stay on schedule, and use resources more efficiently.
Cost management in project management requires estimating, budgeting, and controlling project expenses so that the work can stay financially on track. Teams can predict future costs, monitor spending throughout the project lifecycle, and compare planned versus actual costs to improve future budgeting. Effective cost management helps prevent overruns, reduce risk, and support better resource planning and long-term profitability.
Cost variance is a measure of a project’s financial performance that compares the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) with the actual cost of work performed (ACWP). It shows whether a project is over or under budget, helping teams track spending as the project progresses. A variance close to zero is ideal, though difficult to achieve in practice.
