I thought I could write a good case study in a day... it took me a full week.

I had this client, a small credit union in Boise, that had a great outcome from our security service. I figured I'd just interview their IT guy, get some quotes, and slap it together. How hard could it be? The interview alone took three tries to schedule, and then getting the exact numbers they were okay with sharing... that was another two days of back-and-forth emails. Legal had to check everything. By the time I wrote the first draft, got their approval, and made the graphics, a whole seven days had gone by. I used to think case studies were just filler content, but now I see they're a huge project that needs its own timeline. How do you guys plan for these? Do you block out a whole week for just one?

3 comments

3 Comments

joel_martinez2mo ago

Oh man, I feel this in my soul. My first one, I put "write case study" as a single two-hour task on my Friday. The sheer amount of "can you word this differently?" emails alone turned it into a three-week monster. I learned to just block off the whole next month as a joke.

ray_campbell462mo ago

Right? @joel_martinez, that's the perfect trap. You think you're just drafting a simple project summary, then suddenly you're on version twelve because legal needs to "de-risk the language" and marketing wants more "actionable takeaways." My last one got stuck for a week because two VPs were arguing over whether we "optimized" or "streamlined" a process. Just block the whole month and maybe you'll finish early.

spencer82mo ago

Feel you, @joel_martinez. Been there.