jpoindexter Case Study Story Map
Turn evidence into an outcome arc. The user or operator is the protagonist; the product, designer, and AI agent are supporting forces.
Read references/outcome-arc.md.
Workflow
- Extract the protagonist, starting state, goal, trigger, constraints, actions, pivotal decision, changed state, and outcome evidence.
- Arrange evidence on the eight-part Outcome Arc.
- Identify the actual climax: the moment value or learning becomes visible, not the launch date.
- Find cliffhangers: drop-offs, unresolved errors, abandoned paths, missing measurements, or outcomes without causes.
- Test the arc against qualitative and quantitative evidence.
- Collapse process steps that do not change the decision or outcome.
- Draft section headings that make the arc scannable without dramatic exaggeration.
Rules
- Use conflict to explain real constraints, not manufacture theater.
- Keep project chronology subordinate to causal logic.
- Show how evidence changed the work.
- Preserve branching, failure, and iteration when the real journey was non-linear.
- Mark hypotheses and unknown causes instead of forcing a neat ending.
Output
Return:
- a one-sentence case-study thesis;
- the eight-part Outcome Arc;
- the three strongest evidence anchors;
- the pivotal decision;
- unresolved evidence or cliffhangers;
- recommended section headings.