PRODUCT (HARDWARE/SOFTWARE) DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACTS

LESSONS LEARNED (LL) / BEST PRACTICES (BP)

• Been There, Done That: Some Lessons Learned on Software Development Contracts - Abstract: Software engineering literature reports improvement in the definition of the sound software development processes and the adoption of tools and practices that support successful software development projects. This improvement is true for a segment of the maturing software development industry, but there are still many software developers and customers who are operating in a less structured development environment. In the course of observing and working with several software development contracts, primarily with government customer and private industry contractors, some observations seem consistent across the contracts. Contracts that started out with everyone excited about the prospect of developing a significant piece of application software ended up with finger pointing and excuses. Invariably, things happen during the contract that require decisions that have long-term implications for the success of the effort. If the decisions are made with appropriate considerations in mind, the implications for the end product are more likely to be positive. The following considerations are proposed as a positive influence on the quality of contract activities, products, and services.