Case study template

Paste your project notes, get a structured case study back — problem, solution, measurable results — then share one link the client comments on directly, no PDF back-and-forth.

What it is

A case study is a short narrative document — typically 500–1,500 words — that tells the story of a real project: the problem you were hired to solve, what you did, and the outcome in concrete terms.

A good case study answers three questions: What was broken? What did you do? What changed? The writing is rarely the bottleneck — most makers and PMs stall on structure, then on approval, then on where the final version actually lives. This template handles the structure; Drafty handles the rest.

Generate it with your agent

Paste this into Claude, Codex, or any agent — replace the bracketed parts with your project details:

claude

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Write a case study for a project I recently completed. Use this structure: 1. Headline — one sentence naming the client (or industry), the core problem, and the result. 2. Background — two to three sentences on who the client is and the context I was working in. 3. The problem — what was broken or missing, and why it mattered. Include any relevant numbers (e.g. error rate, time lost, cost). 4. What I did — the approach, key decisions, and tools used. Be specific about the work, not just the outcome. 5. Results — measurable before/after where possible. If hard data isn't available, name the qualitative shift. 6. What I'd do differently — one honest reflection. Makes the case study credible. Project details: [Client/project name, industry] [The problem they came to you with] [What you built or changed] [The outcome — numbers if you have them] Then publish it to Drafty so I can share a link and collect comments — no account needed to reply.▌

See it on a real one

Live canvas — comment on any elementOpen ↗

What goes in a case study

Most case studies run long because they include everything. The ones that get read run short because they include what the reader actually needs to know.

Headline — the result first, then the context. "Reduced checkout abandonment 34% for a fintech startup" beats "Case Study: Checkout Redesign Project."
Background — who the client is, enough for the reader to recognise the situation as one they know.
The problem — specific and concrete. "Email took 11 hours to answer a customer question" is a problem. "Slow customer support" is not.
What you did — the approach, not just the tools. What did you decide, and why? This is where you show the thinking, not just the deliverable.
Results — numbers beat adjectives. If you don't have metrics, name the qualitative change: "The support team stopped using spreadsheets the day it launched."
What you'd do differently — one honest line. It's the part most case studies skip and the part readers trust most.

The most common mistake: burying the result at the end. Put it in the headline, then work backwards. Readers are deciding in the first paragraph whether to keep reading.

When a case study is the right format

Portfolio and sales — showing prospective clients the shape of how you work, before they hire you.
Internal retrospectives — a shared record of what happened on a project that everyone on the team agrees on, not three different versions in three people's notes.
Stakeholder reporting — a PM or maker explaining to an exec or board why a decision was right, in the form of a story rather than a slide deck.

If the audience only needs the numbers, a KPI dashboard is faster. If the audience needs the reasoning and the full context, a case study is the right format.

The approval problem most case studies run into

You finish the draft. You email a PDF to the client for approval. They reply with tracked changes in Word. Someone on your team has already sent a slightly different version to a prospect. A month later you're not sure which version is current.

The approval loop is where case studies go to die. Sharing a Drafty link means the client comments on the exact paragraph they want changed — not in a separate email thread. When your agent revises the draft, the URL stays the same and the client is already on the updated version.

FAQ

What sections should a case study include? At minimum: the problem, what you did, and the result. A headline, brief background, and one honest reflection round it out. You don't need an executive summary, a methodology section, or a conclusion paragraph restating what you just said — those add length without adding clarity.

How long should a case study be? 500–1,500 words covers most use cases. A single-page PDF-style case study can work in under 500 words if the results are strong and the context is simple. Past 1,500, you're writing a detailed report, not a case study.

What if I don't have hard metrics? Name the qualitative shift instead. "The team stopped copying data into spreadsheets manually" is a result. "The client renewed their contract for a second year unprompted" is a result. Readers can evaluate both. What they can't evaluate is "improved efficiency across the board."

What's the difference between a case study and a case report? In a business context, they're used interchangeably. In academic and clinical contexts, a case report documents a single observed instance for the record; a case study draws conclusions and analysis from it. For portfolio and sales use, the distinction doesn't matter — write whichever word your audience uses.

How do I get client approval to publish a case study? Ask early, not after you've written it. Confirm what can be named (company, person, numbers) before you start. A simple email — "Would you be okay with me writing up our project as a short case study?" — is enough to establish intent. Once the draft is ready, share a link rather than a document so the approval is one round of comments on a shared URL, not a file attachment email chain.

What format works best for sharing a case study? A shared link beats a PDF for anything that needs client approval or team feedback — comments land on the exact line, not in a separate document. PDFs work well for the final version after approval, when you need a fixed artifact for a portfolio or a sales deck. For the drafting and review stage, a live link is faster for everyone.