Which problems do you find in a software development contract?

[AnderAI]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently writing a PhD about software development contracts.

As a lawyer, I’m trying to understand an engineer’s point of view in a contractual relationship, and particularly, what developers/engineers struggle with during a software development project. The aim of my research is to find the best solution in case of litigations or even to prevent such litigations from happening between the customers and the developers in a tailored made software contract.

To understand the real experience of developers, I’ve a bunch of questions, and it would be really helpful to have your point of view and (possibly) examples from experiences you had in various projects:

Which kind of process do you use for a software development project (for example, agile, cycle, waterfall, etc.)?

How do you define a failure in a software?

Which are the most common failures that you can find?

How do you detect a failure?

Which is the procedure to repair a failure that you usually use and why do you use this specific procedure?

Which problems do you usually find in a software project regarding the client’s needs and communication?

During a project, have you already experienced a problem which has rendered the software development (technically) impossible and/or extremely hard to develop (for instance due the development taking too much time, or becoming too expensive)?

How do you determine (or define) this impossibility or a piece of software that is “really hard” to develop?

How do you usually solve this kind of issue?

Your answers will be extremely precious for my PhD thesis. Thanks a lot, in advance for your help and please feel free to also share these questions with your colleagues.

 

[Malcolm]

I have moved your thread to General Discussion, as you'll most likely get the answers your looking for here.

 

[Writingskin]

In software development, project success and failure can be defined by several factors:
1. Bugs and Defects: Persistent or critical bugs indicate a problem.
2. Missed Deadlines: Consistently failing to meet deadlines is a sign of project failure.
3. Scope Creep: Uncontrolled expansion of project scope can lead to budget and schedule failure.
4. Poor Communication: Lack of communication between the team and stakeholders can result in misunderstandings.
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