You know what's easy?

Running a business.

SAID NO SANE MAN OR WOMAN EVER.

But hey, who says you can't make the process of running it a bit easier?

Just recently we had the opportunity to work with a software company.

For this year, they wanted to target some high-ticket clients.

They knew what was at play tho.

More cash means more trouble.

That means they needed us to develop a Contract that took care of a few of their problems.

a) No matter what they did, they always faced delays in delivering their projects

b) Those delays in turn made them overuse their resources

c) And in some rare cases, their clients terminated the contract because of the delays

Now this is a frustrating place to be overall.

My team and I knew what needed to be done tho.

So what we did was apply our simple 3-step process.

Scope Of Work

The main reason why delays and overspending of resources happen is when a company does not have a detailed discussion on the scope of work.

So we reviewed the scope part and advised on making it more specific, along with dividing it into clear milestones.

Handling the Delays Blame

One thing I have noticed is software projects get extended beyond the agreed timeline.

The reason can be multiple. 

For e.g., the client not cooperating, taking too long to accept the milestone, or just changing scope repeatedly.

And typically, the client blames the software companies in such cases too.

So we added clauses to deal with such scenarios. 

One of them was an extension of the timeline for the client’s default.

Protection of Company

We always like to think about the worst-case scenario.

Now, in order to protect your own company, you will have to do that too.

The best way you can do it is by having a Limitation of Liability clause in your Contract.

But a specific one. Not a general one. Those won't last in courts.

And also, provide an overall limit of liquidated damages that can be recovered.

Control it!

Now once you start taking these steps, that's when you start improving your situation.

Having a Contract is one thing, but you have to implement the steps on call too.

Make the client understand the Contract they are signing. Verbally I mean.

Once you do that, you will have communicated a lot better than thousands of agencies out there.

Only attempt to do this once you understand the law and the regulations.

Because there are times people go crazy with what they add to their contracts.

And that just ends up making the Contract unenforceable. 

Also, if you want me to help you with my team, just pick a slot here:

https://calendly.com/mtlegalteam/discovery-call-with-mtlegal-team

Until next time!

-- Akhil Mishra

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