Bespoke software is becoming an indispensable strategy for a growing number of businesses. But the huge demand for skilled programmers makes it impractical for most companies to employ in-house software developers.
If you’re in this situation, most likely you’ll end up working with a contractor specialized in outsourcing development teams. They are known as software houses.
When you select software professionals to work with, you want them to know their game. They have gone through tens or hundreds of previous projects, so most likely they are the ones with superior experience in the software provider-client relationship. You are out of your area of expertise and you are about to face the first challenge: signing a contract.
The unique process of developing software and the hermetic vocabulary certainly won’t help. There is also a good chance that your law advisor has little or no experience with IT contracts and may overlook risks and unfavorable paragraphs. If you’re not careful, you may face consequences including:
If you’re in charge of signing the contract it will be your job to look for every hole others may miss. This list will help you spot the most common traps in software development contracts.