Started the day on the beach walking the dog as the sun came up. A great way to clear the mind for the day ahead.

Today's class exercise is to analyse a typical contract for the acquisition of a small to medium sized software development project. Most students have never seen a legal contract, let alone analysed one, so this exercise introduces a touch of practicality.

I use one of the ITANZ sample contracts (see previous blog) and divide the class into pairs, one representing the purchaser and one the supplier (or vendor, as IS organisations seem to like to call themselves - it seems less pushy than 'seller'). Their job is to discover the constraints that the contract places on them, and to add tasks to the project plan where necessary to enable the managing of the contract.

Ideally, having done that, the contract can be filed away and should only need to be referred to if major problems arise.

And while the procurement knowledge area may not seem to be the most exciting for students, I've found in 'real life' there's a real buzz in negotiating a win-win deal that makes everyone happy. It's called 'doing business'.