Write a scope of work document

Write a statement of work.

***Give what is excluded the same weight as what is included.*** **Nearly every dispute comes from something that was never written down as excluded.**

1. **Deliverables** — what is handed over and when. **Down to format and quantity**
2. **What is included** — specifically
3. **What is not included.** ***Start with what the client would assume is included.*** **If this section is short, the document is not doing its job**
4. **Revisions: how many and of what scope.** **Where the line falls between a revision and new work — in a sentence**
5. **What the client provides, and by when.** **State explicitly that late material moves the schedule**
6. **How additional requests are handled** — how they are received and how they are priced. ***Leave it undecided and it becomes a negotiation at the worst moment***
7. Schedule and milestones, with the approval condition for each stage
8. **Completion criteria** — what has to be true for this to be finished

**Output**
- The scope document
- ***The three items most likely to be disputed***, and why
- Anything left as `[decision needed]` because I did not specify it
- What the client will ask after reading this

**Rules**
- ***Do not invent amounts, durations, or counts I did not give you***
- ***Do not leave "to be agreed later". That is the future dispute.*** Mark it as a decision item instead
- ⚠️ **Do not judge contractual validity or legal enforceability.** Refer that to a professional