Earls on case studies

A nice little post by Mark Earls on the utility (or lack thereof) of case studies. I've long found the whole idea of 'best practice' and 'benchmarking' a tad restricting while leaving little room for innovation. My experience has been that many organizations, once they learn of the best practice, stop looking for an even better practice. Bliss Carman said that "A fact merely marks the point where we have agreed to let investigation cease". And so it is with best practice / benchmarking all too often.

Interesting, however, that best practice thinking is likely fueled in some way by our very human desire to do what others do...