How should a contract for Agile software development differ from a contract for Waterfall software development?
<p>All software development contracts I've seen specify that x piece of software will be developed for y dollars within z amount of time.  This works out for traditional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" rel="nofollow">Waterfall</a> model projects, where you do a lot of forward planning and it is reasonable to expect that you will know how long the project will take near the beginning of the project.  It doesn't match up at all for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development" rel="nofollow">Agile</a>, where you can start without having any idea exactly where you will end up and you are expected to be able to deal with requirements changes.</p>

<p>How would a contract for Agile software development differ from a contract for Waterfall software development?  Is there a place where I can find a sample contract for Agile development?</p>

<p>Keep in mind that for a real project with real money on the line you should consult with a business lawyer who can tailor a form to the specifics of your project and team.   </p>

<p>That said, this is the first google result for 'Agile Software Contracting' (and there are many others):</p>

<p><strong><a href="http://www.agilecontracts.org/" rel="nofollow">Agile Contracts</a></strong><BR>
<em>Contracting for agile software development is fundamentally different from traditional project contracting. Using traditional contracts for an agile development project can endanger the project execution and causes the company to fail to get the potential benefits of agile development. <BR><BR>
The purpose of this page is to collect references to agile contracting to support organizations to change their contracting models, reduce risk and get more benefits out of adopting Agile development.</em><BR><BR>
<a href="http://www.agilecontracts.org/agile_contracts_primer.pdf" rel="nofollow">THE AGILE CONTRACTS PRIMER</a> (PDF)</p>

contract-law