In software development contracts, the definition of “done” is the line between delivery and disagreement. When that line is missing or subjective, disputes are not a possibility—they are inevitable. Without objective acceptance criteria, completion becomes a matter of opinion, and opinion is not enforceable.
Many SOWs describe deliverables in broad terms—“configured,” “implemented,” “available,” or “supported”—without specifying what those words mean in practice. Does “implemented” include testing? Performance validation? Documentation? Production deployment? If the contract does not say, both sides can be correct and still be in conflict.
This ambiguity weaponizes acceptance. Vendors may claim work is complete to trigger payment, while clients withhold sign-off because the system does not meet expectations. The contract offers no referee because expectations were never operationalized. The result is stalled payments, strained relationships, and teams continuing to build on unstable foundations because rejection is politically or legally risky.
Lack of a clear “done” definition also undermines quality. If there are no objective standards, testing becomes optional, edge cases get ignored, and technical debt accumulates early. Teams move forward to stay “on schedule,” even when prior work is incomplete. That debt compounds, and the cost of fixing it later is exponentially higher.
Acceptance criteria are not micromanagement. They are risk containment. They translate expectations into measurable outcomes: test cases passed, defects resolved, documentation delivered, environments deployed, performance thresholds met. They also create closure. Once criteria are met, the deliverable is done—no revisiting, no renegotiation.
A strong SOW defines “done” at the deliverable level, not the project level. It specifies how acceptance is validated, who signs off, and what happens if criteria are not met. Without this, every milestone becomes provisional and every payment becomes contentious.
In software development, unclear completion is not flexibility. It is a slow-motion contract failure.
