Something to try...

When I read a book that I think is good, I like to try a few things out of it that you normally wouldn't (Why did you read the book if not to learn something new?)

I've been reading Peopleware by Demarco & Lister and really enjoying it (it lines up with a lot of the things I've been taught and try to practice). I'd like to try the "Power of Veto". Allowing our teams (development and customer) to state when their portion of the product is ready.

I think the question to ask is "When will x be ready for production?" where x is contracts, volumetrics or allocations.