Contract intelligence insights on commercial contracts.
The ObliTracker Journal publishes contract intelligence insights drawn from the reading and reasoning behind the service. Long-form analysis of contract language, patterns we see across engagements, and structured notes on the mechanics of commercial contract work in New Zealand.
Why “reasonable endeavours” is the most expensive phrase in your contract.
It’s the most contested phrase in New Zealand commercial contracts, and the most poorly understood. These contract intelligence insights unpack two words that look like a soft commitment but courts have consistently held to a harder standard than most businesses realise. This entry walks through what “reasonable endeavours” actually means, where it differs from “best endeavours” and “all reasonable endeavours”, what NZ case law has held, and why leaving it undefined costs businesses money every year.
Previous entries.
These contract intelligence insights are published in reverse chronological order. Filter by category, or read the whole set if you’re catching up.
The five most-missed obligations in New Zealand commercial contracts.
Across every Intelligence engagement, the same five categories of obligation keep going unnoticed until they cause problems. Here’s what they are, why they’re consistently missed, and what to check for before signing.
Auto-renewal traps: how to spot them before they lock you in.
Auto-renewal clauses cause more expensive surprises than any other single mechanism in commercial contracts. This entry walks through the four variations we see, the notice-window traps, and how to build a calendar system that stops them from surprising you.
Contract Summary vs Contract Intelligence: when each tier is the right choice.
These contract intelligence insights use a worked example comparing the two Analyse tiers on the same supply agreement, so you can see exactly what changes at each price point and decide which fits your situation.
Redrafting vs recreating: knowing when Revise beats Create.
If the contract you have has real bones but needs work, Revise is usually cheaper and better than starting over. Here are the four situations where Revise wins, and the one where Create is the right call.
Insurance-contract gap analysis: bridging what you sign and what you’re covered for.
Uncapped indemnity clauses often sit alongside capped commercial insurance. That gap is one of the highest-risk misalignments in commercial business. How to identify it, quantify it, and get the alignment back.
The obligation register: what it is, why it matters, and how to build one.
An obligation register is the artefact ObliTracker was named for. These contract intelligence insights explain what belongs in one, how it differs from a contract summary, and why every commercial business ends up building one for its highest-value contracts eventually.
Contract intelligence insights for people who actually have to run the contract.
The Journal exists as an extension of the ObliTracker service — a place to work through the patterns, questions and language that come up repeatedly across engagements, at a length that email replies don’t accommodate. Entries are written to be useful, not to sell. If a Journal entry answers your question and you don’t need to order a product, that’s a good outcome.
Have a contract question you’d like written up? Email a description and we’ll consider it for a future entry.
hello@oblitracker.co.nz →