Why case studies matters more than it looks

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Case studies is easy to treat as a detail, and that is exactly why it is worth a few minutes of attention.

Content is the part of a project most likely to be underestimated and most likely to delay a launch. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.

What it costs to ignore

Problem, approach, result, in that order. The teams that handle this well are rarely the ones with the biggest budgets. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

Numbers make it credible. In practice this is a scheduling problem more than a technical one. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

Warning signs

Name the client if they will let you. Getting it slightly wrong is survivable. Ignoring it entirely is not. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.

What this looks like day to day

Writing for the web is largely an editing job: the first draft is always longer than it needs to be. Three things worth confirming about case studies before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Numbers make it credible — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.