The fable of The Chicken and
the Cow is about commitment to a project or cause. When producing a dish made
of thigh meat and eggs, the cow provides the thigh meat which requires his sacrifice and the
chicken provides the eggs which are not difficult to produce. Thus the cow is
really committed in that dish while the chicken is only involved, yet both are
needed to produce the dish.
The fable of the Chicken and
the Cow is used to illustrate the differing levels of project stakeholders
involved in a project. The basic fable runs:
A Cow and a Chicken are walking down
the road.
The Chicken says: "Hey Cow, I was
thinking we should open a restaurant!"
Cow replies: "Hm, maybe, what
would we call it?"
The Chicken responds: "How about
'meat-n-eggs'?"
The Cow thinks for a moment and says:
"No thanks. I'd be committed, but you'd only be involved!"
