In conversations over the last few days, almost a half-dozen people mentioned the words “chickens” and “pigs” — enough for me to take notice.

When Scrum appeared on the scene, it made a distinction: If you're a committed team member, you have certain rights and obligations; if you're only involved (you “don't get things done”), there are certain things you shouldn't do.

The idea was to help people out of a command & control mindset. In order to make this message stick in people's minds, the committed was called pig and the involved chicken. The allusion is to a cartoon of a joke.

As with many things that have a label and a backing story, they have in fact stuck.

Many people have argued against these particular labels, pigs and chickens. That calling people animal names is offensive. That it's culturally insensitive. That pigs are considered intelligent animals and chicken is slang for “afraid”.

Let's look beyond the choice of words, and consider the disservice we do ourselves when labeling people this way.

1. We shut people out. You're a chicken? Stand in the back of the room and listen, we'll call on you if we need you. Which we won't.


2. We hurt self-organization beyond the immediate team. You're a chicken? You can't come among us and perhaps find a great way to contribute. Remember, the best state for Agile roles and responsibilities is fluid, not solid.


3. Managers (not the ScrumMasters) are considered chickens. True, many managers will not write code or test, but that doesn't make them any less committed, important, or useful.


4. Scrum gets a bad rap. If your first introduction to Scrum included the mentions of pigs and chickens, how did that make you feel about it? (You're welcome to email me about that.)

In almost a decade of helping people be Agile, I've never, ever had to resort to these terms, and everything worked out well. Here is what I do:

• I never introduce these terms in the first place.


• Already in the kick-off, we identify our project community (core and extended) — each person by name.


• I educate my teams and clients about the important role managers play and help them get the hang of it.


• I help them accept the importance of trusting the core community to self-organize, and not meddling in their affairs.


• To ensure that, I have the Agile project manager / ScrumMaster run interference.


• The standup, demo and review are inclusive. Everyone from the extended community who wants to learn what's going on, or has useful input to share, is welcome to talk. Again, meddling and bypassing the backlog are not allowed.

Want to help the entire organization achieve great results? Welcome your fellow professionals to your team and allow them to express themselves.