Project Case Study Workbook: Show Evidence Without Inventing Results

Collect the evidence before writing

• Permission: what the customer authorises you to name, show or quote.
• Starting point: the actual request and constraints, with a source.
• Scope: agreed work and important exclusions.
• Decisions: alternatives considered and why the chosen approach fit.
• Delivery: outputs you can show or describe accurately.
• Results: measured outcomes only when evidence and context exist; otherwise describe delivery without implying a business uplift.
• Limits: what was not measured, remained outside scope or changed later.

Keep the evidence register internal where it contains confidential material. The public story should use only approved information.

Interview questions that uncover substance

Ask: “What made the original situation difficult?”, “Which constraint shaped our decision?”, “What did we decide not to build?”, “What can we actually show?”, and “Which result do we have evidence for?”

Record the answer source and whether public use is authorised. A positive comment in an email is not automatically permission to publish it as a testimonial.

A fictional case-study paragraph

“A small consultancy needed to explain two service routes on its website. The brief covered five public pages and an enquiry form, excluding online purchasing. The team separated the routes, requested location and service context in the form and delivered the agreed pages. The customer approved the copy. No change in revenue or enquiry volume was measured for this example.”

This invented example demonstrates structure; it must not be presented as a real Client Craft customer. Its value is the concrete scope and decisions, not a fabricated success metric.

Review the story against the evidence

Label each result as delivered output, observed operational change or measured business outcome. Do not move from one category to another just because the wording sounds stronger.

Ask the authorised customer approver to review the facts and permitted materials before publication. Keep a record of corrections. If there is not enough approved substance for a standalone case study, use a shorter project description instead of padding a success story.