Chapter 32. Legal Issues in Software

This book has consistently emphasized the 34 competencies needed to be a successful software project manager. Along with the competencies, the idea of the software development life cycle has been consistently presented as a mechanism for framing where the reader is in the overall process of developing quality software. Legal issues in software are divided in the same three competency categories: product development techniques, project management skills, and people management skills.

The legal profession has a multitude of taxonomies for framing specific areas of legal expertise. Simplifying this to the three groups for project management practitioners is more effective in relating to the process of software development. The authors of this practitioners' guide are not attorneys, nor have they had any legal training. In numerous projects since the early 1970s, the authors have had to deal with many of the legal issues described in this chapter. The only way to manage project risk with legal issues is to bring an experienced attorney onto the project team to handle the contracting, intellectual property, or litigation. This is truly an area where the project manager needs to call in the experts.