'Deliverables'
I once basically 'threw my manager' under the proverbial bus. Well, actually all I did was point out that he'd basically jumped:
It was not dark, stormy or night when I 'took over' a project for a financial institution concerning PKI infrastructure. The customer was wondering where their pilot scheme was and when it would be delivered. The senior manager was not aware we were providing one.
I finally tracked down copy of the contract (on the manager's laptop) and read it. In the section headed "Deliverables" there was a bullet list of items we were delivering (about 5 or six items) which we had or were in the process of delivering. After the bullet list, was a paragraph mentioning a 'pilot secure e-mail system'.
Now, me being me, I could see how the customer (who also had a copy of the contract) might just interpret the fact that a "pilot secure e-mail system" being mentioned in the section headed "Deliverables" could conclude that we were contracted to deliver a "pilot secure e-mail system".
The senior manger had interpreted it as just being the bulleted list items, and not contractually bound to deliver the 'pilot secure e-mail system'. That would be on an 'if we feel like it' basis.
There was a meeting, which I was 'theoretically' chairing with the client and said manager about this. My manger was literally shaking, as the client had us 'by the small round things'.
It cost us a bit to provide the pilot, but the techies really enjoyed it. What we didn't enjoy was using a technological start-up's PKI, which was cryptographically sound but so craply implemented that, and here Register readers of a sensitive disposition regards security should take a deep breath, you could never change the System Admin password or account name after setup. ('What never?" - "No, NEVER." as the song goes.*)
*Gilbert and Sullivan, 'HMS Pinafore', the head of the Queen's Navy Song.