Most RFPs accidentally reward the riskiest vendors. Why? Because vague, overloaded, or politically written RFPs invite optimistic promises, hidden assumptions, and unpriced scope. If you want proposals that actually minimize delivery risk, your RFP must force clarity...
Before You Submit the Proposal: Find the Risk You’re About to Own
Most agencies think risk starts after the contract is signed. That’s wrong. Risk is baked in before you respond to the RFP—inside your proposal language, assumptions, scope boundaries, and delivery promises. And once the client signs? Those risks become your problem....
Pre-Signature Software Development Risk Reviews: How Pixeldust Can Identify Project Failure Before You Sign
Pixeldust is an independent consulting practice focused on pre-signature IT risk reviews. It helps organizations identify cost, scope, and delivery risk before signing a software development, ERP, website, or systems implementation contract. Pixeldust does not build...
Contract Assumptions Checklist: Red Flags in Software Development Contracts
Contract assumptions are where software projects quietly accumulate risk. They rarely appear as bold warnings. Instead, they are buried in short sections, footnotes, or implied language that shifts responsibility without drawing attention. A weak assumptions list does...
How to Write a Project Charter When Multiple Vendors Are Involved
A Project Charter becomes exponentially more important—and more dangerous—when multiple vendors are involved. In a single-vendor project, ambiguity causes friction. In a multi-vendor project, ambiguity causes paralysis, finger-pointing, and deadlock. The charter must...
How to Write a Project Management Plan That Actually Works
A Project Management Plan (PMP) is not a compliance artifact. When it fails, it fails because it is written to satisfy a template instead of to control reality. A plan that works does one thing well: it makes execution predictable under pressure. The first requirement...
What to Look For in a Strong Software Development SOW
A strong Software Development Statement of Work (SOW) is not a sales document and not a formality. It is a risk-management instrument. Its purpose is to make success repeatable and failure expensive for the right reasons. When a project goes sideways, a good SOW...
Why Conflicting SOW and MSA Language Is a Legal Time Bomb
In most software contracts, the Statement of Work does not stand alone. It operates under a Master Services Agreement—and when the two conflict, the MSA almost always wins. This is where many clients lose protections they thought they had. SOWs often promise fixed...
Why Weak Status Reporting Makes Software Fail Quietly
Status reporting is the early warning system of a software project. When it is weak, inconsistent, or undefined in the contract, failure does not arrive suddenly—it accumulates silently. By the time leadership becomes aware, options are already limited. Many software...
Why Unassigned Risk Ownership Guarantees Project Failure
Every software project carries risk. The only question is whether that risk is managed intentionally or inherited by default. When a contract fails to assign risk ownership explicitly, the client almost always ends up holding it. Risk ownership determines who acts...
Why We Start with a Pre-Signature Risk Review
Contract Risk
Identify ambiguous language, missing acceptance criteria, and clauses that enable cost overruns and change-order abuse.
Delivery Feasibility
Determine whether the proposed timeline, staffing, and assumptions can realistically deliver what is being promised.
Due Diligence
Conduct an independent risk review before committing to a major IT or software development investment.
Governance & Control
Assess decision rights, escalation paths, and approval mechanisms to ensure the client—not the vendor—retains control.
Backlog Alignment
Verify that the project backlog (when available) matches contractual commitments and does not hide unpriced scope.
Change-Order Exposure
Surface where and how scope, cost, or schedule overruns are most likely to occur before the contract is signed.