Baseline

A formally acknowledged set of information establishing a frame of reference from which deviation or departure can be measured (see also basis). The concept of a “baseline” should be thought of as a practical reaction to the observer effect¹ in Physics: watching too closely impacts the work being done. With a baseline, management can permit some degree of divergence between the various aspects of the development team, with periodic reconciliation between their intermediate results.

When a baseline isn’t used, it is often felt that each tiny decision must be managerially approved in detail in order to provide at least an illusion of coherence between the various aspects. The worst of all possible worlds is when we have a baseline, but try to appear as if no divergence can be tolerated².

Some organizations formally identify seven types of baseline: Organization, Cost, Schedule, TPM, Requirements, Configuration, and IT.

Footnotes

1. Sometimes confused with the better-known Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the Observer Effect might be referred to as the “Watched Pot“ principle.[↩]
2. Regrettably, this happens almost all the time.[↩]