[Gllug] Dealing with "Word-Only" organisations

[Christopher Hunter]

On Sat, 2010-11-06 at 10:58 +0000, t.clarke wrote:
> I wonder whether the failure of Government IT projects is down to:
> a) unrealistic demands from Government in the first place
> b) the contractors developing the software not having a vested interest in
> making it work;  they get most of their revenue before final completion

a) The demands are generally realistic, because the prospective
contractors (the developers) actually write the specifications - the
government departments are told what they can have.

b) This is the larger part of the problem.  Government contracts are
much too generous.  They pay most of the bills before anything has been
produced, and they persist in rewarding rather than penalising failure!

The cure is very simple:  10% of the payment up front as a gesture of
"good faith" and allows the contractor to employ staff.  The balance
paid one year after the successful completion of the project and after
the warranty period.  The warranty period restarts with every defect
found...

This would focus the contractors' collective minds!  

C.



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