RE: "baseline"

[jgarison -at- ide -dot- com]

I dunno ... Using one term - baseline - to cover several other detailed
instances is a nice shorthand method for covering all your bases (no pun
intended) as long as you clearly and carefully define that term. For
instance, a baseline includes much more than just schedule and costs. It can
also include dependencies, resources, and so forth. The thought of having to
list more than four items whose status information is saved or updated for
multiple operations doesn't sound right. I'd rather use one term for the
whole lot.

As for using the term 'baseline', I would shy away from verbing it. Rather,
I'd use constructions like  'Save your project with a baseline' or 'The
project was saved with a baseline' or 'In comparison to the project
baseline...'

My 2¢,

John

PS - I agree with your sentiment about word choice being important!


-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Brown [mailto:stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 10:30 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: "baseline"


Anila,

When I hear "baseline," I start looking for my
baseball bat, glove, and Cracker Jacks!

"Baseline" is jargon and usually refers to a standard
or to a first version of something. It should be
replaced with a more precise word.

BAD: "When a project is baselined, both the schedule
and the cost are baselined."

BETTER: "When a project is estimated, its schedule and
cost are set."

EVEN BETTER: "Project planning requires you to
establish a schedule and budget. If more time or money
is available, provide the thresholds in an appendix."

BAD: "The user can save many baselined versions."

BETTER: "Users can save the first iteration of each
version they create."

BAD: "Our QA department is going to establish a
baseline for system performance."

BETTER: "Our QA department establishes minimum
performance standards for the system."

Hope this helps,
Steven Brown
Senior Technical Writer

P.S. BTW, nothing is "inconsequential" when it comes
to word choice.

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