Blog Posts: June 2012

Software development projects are well known, if not infamous, for running over time and over budget. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Often a number of factors combine to cause a software development to go off course. If this situation is not carefully managed, you and your client can end up aggrieved. That will not make for the good working relationship needed to complete the development and could ultimately result in an even more costly dispute. So, as a software developer, how can y.... (read more...)

Software development is a complex business and no IT project should proceed without a proper software development agreement in place to protect the developer. An important part of that agreement will be the project plan, or implementation plan, setting out the various stages of the development with a timetable for achievement of the key stages. The project plan will set out how the software development detailed in the specification is to be achieved, so it needs to take account of what is contai.... (read more...)

It is a mistake to assume that personal gurantees to banks are always enforceable. It is true to say that these days the high street banks usually have watertight paperwork and have covered off any potential loophole, but one recent case demonstrates how a lender can get it wrong with the result that the guarantee in unenforceable. My client was a relative of the lender’s client. The lender was not a high street bank. My client guaranteed payment by the borrower to the lender. He obtaine.... (read more...)

The primary aim of any contract - and software development agreements are certainly no exception - is basically to set out what each party expects from the arrangement. Where too many IT projects have run into difficulties is not putting in place a software development agreement which adequately deals with all the relevant issues before works starts. This is understandable given the time and budgetary pressures in everyday business life, but it can be a false economy. A key part of a software de.... (read more...)

IT projects are well known as being prone to disputes developing. Why? Because they are technically complex and give rise to many legal issues. But often the root cause is that there is no proper software development agreement in place. By the time a prospective client approves your software development proposal, you as a software developer will already have put considerable time and effort into the project. There will no doubt already be various documents describing the project, but what you re.... (read more...)

Software development is a complex technical project which also gives rise to many legal issues. We have all heard of examples of software development projects where things have gone wrong and the resulting dispute has ended up in court. IT projects have figured in a considerable number of cases in recent years– some involving large companies and public sector organisations. When a project has been agreed in principle, the temptation can be to get on with the work as soon as possible. But i.... (read more...)