What you will leave with
A baseline record with a unit of work, quality checks and visible limitations.
Understand
The idea behind the work
A baseline describes the current process using observed work. Choose a consistent unit such as one accepted report or one approved campaign brief. Record hands-on effort, elapsed time, corrections, review work and the conditions of the task. Keep concurrent work separate so overlapping minutes are not counted twice.
Use representative cases rather than only the slowest historical task. Describe the input quality and complexity so you can compare equivalent work later. If measurements do not exist, write ‘not yet measured’ and arrange an observation. A remembered estimate can inform planning, but it must remain labeled as an estimate.
Inspect a worked example
Synthetic example: baseline one accepted brief
This is a fictional teaching example, not a client result or a claim about Joseph Carroll's past work.
The measurements below are invented to teach the calculation, not claimed outcomes.
The starting input
Work through it
- Record 70 minutes of hands-on effort and two hours elapsed as different measures.
- Record the source pack, one factual correction and the reviewer who accepted it.
- Keep the same acceptance checks for the later AI-assisted trial.
The result
A baseline per accepted brief with effort, elapsed time, quality and context.
A mistake to recognize
Comparing only 25 minutes of drafting with the entire future AI workflow.
How to recover
Compare the same end-to-end unit, including preparation, review and correction on both sides.
Adapt the method
What changes in your business?
The same method can serve different settings. Data, allowed actions and operational support matter more than headcount alone.
Owner-led business or small team
A simple task log is enough; record your review effort too.
Department or growing team
Ask each participant to record their part without double-counting overlaps.
Large or complex organization
Agree on metric definitions and a representative sample before comparing departments or drawing broad conclusions.
Try it, then inspect the result
Design your baseline observation
Name the unit of work, what you will record, who will judge quality and which measurements are still missing. Use observed values only if you have them.
Add the baseline to the workflow charter
Use a sample or a description you are allowed to share. Your answer stays in this browser when storage is available; export it to keep a separate copy. 0 / 6,000 characters.
To mark completion, write an answer, check the reasoning scenario and inspect every evidence statement. You can continue to another lesson at any time.
Self-reported completion does not certify competence. Open My AI Plan to review your saved work.
Sources and further practice
The lesson is Carroll Consulting's teaching synthesis. These sources support the underlying capabilities and concepts; check the current product, plan and configuration before applying them.
You can move between lessons freely. Revisit the checks whenever your answer, evidence or business context changes.