requirements-baselining
Installation
SKILL.md
Purpose
Guide requirements engineers through establishing formal requirements baselines -- agreed-upon, versioned snapshots of requirements at a point in time. A baseline is the reference point against which all future changes are measured, all traceability links are anchored, and all development commitments are based.
Without a baseline, there is no way to answer: "What exactly did we agree to build?" Changes cannot be assessed because there is no "before" to compare against. Traceability links point to moving targets. Auditors have nothing to audit.
Key Concepts
What Constitutes a Baseline
A requirements baseline is:
- A snapshot of all requirements (and their attributes) at a specific point in time
- Approved by authorized stakeholders
- Immutable -- once baselined, the content does not change. Changes create a new version.
- Labeled with a unique version identifier
- Stored under configuration management
A baseline is not the same as "the latest version." It is a specific, frozen version that was formally reviewed and approved.