A new paradigm for use in system development is described: engineering baselines. This new paradigm enables controlled visibility and traceability into the complete development effort. One of the primary features of the engineering baseline paradigm is its comprehensiveness and feasibility: its simplicity and usability by everyone involved at all levels. It is recognized that no matter how good an approach may be otherwise, unless it is one that all engineers can readily apply, on-the-spot at their desks or benches, if on balance falls short of the need. Engineering baselines have three principal unique features that sustain both its comprehensiveness and feasibility: (1) establishment of all system descriptions in plain ASCII files for universal machine processing, with each system element as a standalone entity bulleted descriptions concatenated with the lead in information, for example; (2) application of three types of numbers: a unique system number for all system elements, an engineering tag to establish links among system elements, and change set numbers; (3) use of plain ASCII two-column index files for all paired link among system elements. The basic ASCII files, the three number types and the two-column ASCII index files enable the tracking and linking [and reuse] by any and all engineers, as well as in speciality database-oriented applications of all system elements, including system specifications, designs, test cases hardware components, software code, work breakdown structures, development milestones, and user documentation.