+ PLANNING A PROFITABLE PROJECT 71 your understanding of what the project is to accomplish. For example, a Web design company may create several quick and rough samples of what the finished web site will look like, showing the color scheme, graphics, and feel of the site, to make certain that the designers understand the customer's needs. The customer then can inspect the prototype and either make ad- justments or give the green light for the project work to be launched. The intent is to create a visualization of what the proj- ect will create. If your project team is to solve a productivity problem for a client by installing new equipment or new software, or even just designing a better workflow, it's really mandatory that you observe the present conditions. Experts from the project team should visit and observe how the customer is doing the work. By experienc- ing the work firsthand, seeing the customer's pain in the process, and tracking the outcomes, you can create solutions that solve the problem and also develop measurements for a baseline. A baseline captures current performance and allows you to measure changes as the project moves forward. It is needed to establish metrics for project performance and what the desired future state of your project should be. No matter which approach you take to gathering project requirements, you'll need to create requirements documentation. Requirements documentation defines the project requirements, the characteristics, and the expected outcomes so that all of the stake- holders are able to understand the purpose of each requirement and its significance for the project. Stakeholders, in particular the project customers, must approve the project requirements before the planning can continue. In larger, more complex projects, you may find it beneficial to create a requirements traceability matrix. This is a table that lists all American Management Association · www.amanet.org