Introduction to the Personal Software Process

8 Managing Commitments

This chapter focuses on commitments, discussing what they are, why they are important, and how to manage them. For the assignment, you will review and list your current commitments.

8.1 Defining Commitment

Being committed is a state of mind. For whatever reason, you have undertaken to do something, and you feel you should do it. A commitment, however, is more than just something you intend to do; there is also someone who expects you to do it. This, in fact, is the key issue with commitments: Who is the person to whom you are committed? In the legal or contractual sense, you are committed to someone else: your professor, your manager, your employer. More important, however, are the deeper commitments you make to yourself. ...