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Clarify Baseline

The Baseline is a different class of thing from the tiers: it is included in every S build sold without a Discovery, not purchasable, and not removable. Clients choosing a Discovery engagement buy a tier (Focused / Core / Full) instead - the Baseline exists for build projects where no Discovery was sold, so that no MAJOR project is ever built blind.

What It Is

The Clarify phase minimum for S builds - a compressed Clarify that runs as the opening one to two weeks of the build; M and larger builds carry Focused Clarify as their minimum. Priced into the build and shown as a visible line in the quote:

Clarify Baseline - included in this build.

Closed List (This Is All of It)

  1. Sponsor questionnaire - facts, documents, constraints, the Decider, and access (needed to build anyway).
  2. Stakeholder questionnaire - the preset form on the five-working-day window: send, chase, extract.
  3. Purpose statement - drafted from the questionnaire answers in the fixed one-line form and confirmed with the Decider before build work starts; carried verbatim into the project specification (2.5).
  4. Baseline metric capture - the full audit-kit baseline table: performance, Core Web Vitals, accessibility, engagement, search. The "before" in every future case study, captured unconditionally.
  5. Light assumption canvases - drafted from the questionnaire and sponsor pack; gaps recorded as accepted risks with the Decider's knowledge.

Deliberately Excluded (the Creep Rule)

No Keystone deck, no playback, no audit strands beyond the automated baseline runs, no analytics review, no workshop, no market & search. The Baseline informs us; the Keystone convinces them - keeping the deck exclusive to the purchasable tiers is the upgrade incentive. The list above is closed: anything a project needs beyond it is a purchasable tier or a priced addition, never a quiet extension.

Upgrade Triggers

  • Questionnaire conflict on purpose, success, or priorities → there is no room to settle it here; a Discovery tier (with the workshop) is the answer.
  • Appetite for audit findings or a strategic direction → Focused.
  • User research, interviews, market stakes → Core or above.

Why It Exists

  • Ends the "can we skip discovery?" conversation: the Baseline is how MAJOR builds, and the only question is how much deeper to go.
  • Guarantees the house-metrics engine (purpose statement + baseline capture) runs on every project - every build becomes case-study-capable by default.
  • Gives the depth-arrives-sold principle its floor.