Final answer:
Before starting a project, optimizing the project schedule is crucial to save a baseline. The baseline is the original reference point for the project's progress. Updates or snapshots reflect changes post-baseline and are not used as initial reference points.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is important to optimize your project schedule prior to saving a baseline. A baseline serves as a reference point for project progress, capturing the project schedule at a moment in time before the work begins. Optimizing the schedule involves making sure all activities, dependencies, and timelines are accurate and realistic, thereby facilitating better tracking and management of the project. Saving an updated or current state of the project schedule is what we call an update or snapshot, but these differ from a baseline as they reflect changes that have occurred since the project began and do not serve as original reference points.