Comment by austin-cheney

That is why contracts are more than one page in length. The details matter. I can remember receiving a contract class in Afghanistan about something as simple as moving gravel. Yeah, use your imagination with that and whatever absurd cartoon like fantasy you could dream up regarding "moving gravel" is still probably less strange than the real events that occurred.

I don't write contracts for a living, at least yet, but my learning so far is:

* clear goals: where is the end point and what does the product look like once it gets there in all required details

* defined test criteria: this is where you get to sue when they fuck shit up

* measures: there must be predefined measures. These can be wildly unrealistic at the start and require changes as the work occurs, which is ok, but there must be defined performance criteria that all parties are held to before work completion. In other worlds this is rewarded with bonus targets and penalties