Traditional or Agile Contracting for Software Development

Abstract

As the use of software is present in so many activities today, it is important for business in particular to be aware of challenges that may seem different today than before the prevalence of software in our lives. Agile project management is one example: this more recent and nimble approach to software development presents its own challenges. Fortunately, the guiding legal principles related to traditional contract formation and execution are based in principles of fairness and equity, making the customization of legal principles to Agile contracting a reasonable endeavor. This chapter presents basic contract law and such law as it more specifically relates to contracts dealing with Agile software development.