The trouble with getting a software project built is that they’re always late and they always go over budget. Wouldn’t it be great if you could be sure that what you were getting was what you asked for and it was going to be delivered on time? After 20 years working as a commercial software developer, I hit a rough point with an existing client whose project I had been working on for three years. We both knew why the system wasn’t working as it should (3rd parties involved with blame all round) and I wanted them to rewrite the whole thing; they were scared about the cost and potential for overruns, given the amount that they had already sunk into the project.