Case Studies
An account of something I actually ran or advised on, with the numbers left in. What the problem turned out to be, what we decided, what it cost, and what it returned. Some of these went well. Several did not, and those are the ones I would read first.
What each one covers
Every case study follows the same beats, in the same order, so you can skip to the part you need.
The situation, in a paragraph. The problem as it was presented, and the problem as it actually was — those are rarely the same thing. The decision, including the options I ruled out, because the rejected options are what make it judgment rather than luck. What it cost, in money or time or people. What changed. Where it fell short of plan. And one paragraph on what I would tell somebody facing the same thing now.
If a piece cannot fill those beats with something specific, it does not go up.
Why the failures are in here
A case study library with a perfect record is advertising. Everybody’s record is perfect, which is why nobody believes any of them.
The ones that went wrong are more useful in any case. A success depends on conditions you probably cannot reproduce — the market, the timing, the particular people in the room. A failure usually turns on a decision that was available to anyone, which means you can avoid it without having to reproduce anything.
So where I got something wrong, it is written down as a warning, in enough detail to be worth something. Reading about it is cheaper than repeating it.
On names and numbers
Some of these name the company. Most do not. Where a client would be identifiable, details are changed or left out, and the piece says so.
The numbers are not changed. Where a figure is approximate it is marked as approximate, and where I cannot publish one I leave the sentence out rather than round it into something flattering. A case study that has had its arithmetic tidied up is worth nothing to the person reading it.
Where to go next
If you want the method rather than the episode, the frameworks are written out plainly enough to run without me. If you want the argument underneath a decision, that is in the commentary.
And if the situation in one of these looks like the one you are in, that is worth half an hour. There is a booking link on the consulting page.