It’s similar to building an automobile when it comes to drafting software contracts. Writing the various requirements for a contract is similar to selecting the panels, seats, doors, and lights for a new car from a showroom. In a similar vein, the hiring party meets with the developer to discuss the precise aspects and functionalities that they would want to have in their app. While there will be certain components that both sides will agree on as achievable goals, other components will be a source of contention until a compromise can be reached between the developer and the hiring party Being familiar with the meanings of common phrases used in these software contracts may assist both parties in crafting a contract that they are both satisfied with.
Work for Hire – Intellectual Property is number one on the list.
When drafting a contract, it’s always vital to think about all of the possible scenarios, no matter how simple the problems at hand may seem to be. The ‘Work for Hire’ section of the contract specifies who owns the Intellectual Property that is created by the developer and how that property is to be used. This is the point at which some debate may arise. In most cases, the developer retains ownership of the software that they produce for a customer. The desire to retain complete ownership of the software rights by first-time hiring parties is frequent in order to prevent the design from being copied by rivals. The developer’s design, on the other hand, is frequently based on a template that they’ve created for previous customers. It would be impractical for skilled developers to construct new infrastructure for each new customer since they often spend months or years developing software from the bottom up. As a result, the developer want to retain ownership of the code while granting the employing party a permanent, unlimited licence to use the code.
I advise my customers to make the developer promise that they will not use the code for a competitor’s product, but that they may use it for a product in a different field. The legal method to do this is for the developer to be regarded the owner of the programme, and the employing party to be granted a perpetual, unrestricted licence to use the software in perpetuity. The alternative is to do the polar opposite: the employing party retains ownership of the code while granting a perpetual licence to the programmer. But, I would prefer that my customer be the owner; however, this is not a reason for me to refuse to work with a competent developer.
1. The Scope of the Work (SOW)
The purpose of the project is encapsulated in this word, which is the most significant section of the agreement. It should include everything from the time period, tasks, deliverables, allocated responsibilities, quality of work, and payments to the more difficult and disputed aspects such as minimal viable products (MVP), benchmarks, and milestones. It should also cover the following topics: As well as project requirements, the scope of work dictates the programming language to be used and the particular technical functionalities of a piece of software.
There are three steps to the Scope of Work section that are commonly followed:
Stage One: Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) (MVP)
MVPs are beta versions of the software pieces that have been tested. Those are components that have undergone extensive testing by the developer but have not yet shown to be sufficiently viable for usage by the general public. Upon receipt of the Minimum Viable Product, the hiring party may assess and test it to ensure that it satisfies their expectations and determine whether or not its features are acceptable for their target audience.
Stage Two: When the app has been completed and is ready for commercial usage.
In many cases, the MVP will not communicate with a backend database, and some of the peripheral functions will not be written in the MVP as well. Changes are unavoidable, and the question is whether they should be included in the original SOW or if they should be considered a Change Order. The cost of Change Orders is invoiced individually, in accordance with the conditions of the agreement. When it comes to some of these adjustments, reasonable minds might diverge, and this is the area that is likely to generate the greatest difficulty as the project moves forward. I advise my customers to include in the scope of work (SOW) the fact that some big revisions will almost certainly be required at this point, as well as some fair limitations that will safeguard both parties from unpleasant shocks.
The project’s success is dependent on the cooperation of both parties in this situation. According to developers, one of the most common complaints they get is that the hiring party makes too many requests for adjustments, which may cause the project to drag on indefinitely. For the most part, I advise my customers to carefully consider every big change and to exercise caution when requesting modifications that are of modest significance. Eventually, a substantial modification will be required, and the developer will be more agreeable if you haven’t asked a large number of trivial tweaks along the way.
Stage Three: Keeping the Software up to date
This may be divided into two types. The first is that after the product is out publicly and is heavily utilised, it will be found that it has defects. That should be included in the scope of work (SOW) for the main project. After the vulnerabilities have been identified and fixed, the programme will need ongoing maintenance. Although the maintenance component is often handled in a separate agreement, in general you want the developer to handle the maintenance since it is difficult for one developer to modify the code written by another developer (or vice versa).
With contracts, like with most things in life, it pays to do a lot of preparation up front to decrease the amount of difficulties you may encounter in the future. Then, when difficulties happen, you will have a framework to operate within to deal with them effectively.