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Subject:QQRe: Case Studies From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 19 May 1998 08:58:48 -0700
Gina -
> I know we were talking about *business cases* on this list before, but what
> about *case studies*?
> An RFP came in that asked for two *case studies* of projects similar to the
> one in which the client is going to engage.
The term "case study" has become much misused in the business
community. It used to mean a multi-day study of a situation, resulting
in presentation that took several hours and was at least 20 pages long.
These days, many people use "case study" when they mean "example" or
"sample."
First off, I'd ask the requestor just what they meant by "case study,"
if you can. Frequently, in refining the things in an RFP, you can get
closer to what the client really wants by pointing out that some terms
have several meanings, and that in the interest of more nearly meeting
his/her needs, you'd like to know which one was intended.
Secondly, assuming that in this case "case study" meant "example,"
something around 500 words works quite well, using the problem
statement/proposed solution/implemented solution/results organization.
What most clients are looking for is an answer to "Have you ever done
anything like this before?"
