Spreadsheets are very easy to use, and they're very powerful, but they're also very easy to make mistakes with. This is a list of those mistakes. I don't know what the answer would be. I have no...
Spreadsheets are very easy to use, and they're very powerful, but they're also very easy to make mistakes with. This is a list of those mistakes.
I don't know what the answer would be. I have no idea how we stop people misusing data and spreadsheets.
Reminds me of many of my co-workers. My favorite is that some of them had/have "shadow spreadsheets" of customers. Because for some reason they don't trust our databases systems. A colleague and I...
Reminds me of many of my co-workers. My favorite is that some of them had/have "shadow spreadsheets" of customers. Because for some reason they don't trust our databases systems.
A colleague and I found out about these only because some of the customer counts and other tracking (like how many and which customers were lost in various timeframes) that our co-workers were reporting, weren't jiving with what other co-workers -- who maintained their own shadow lists -- were reporting and what our official database said.
We then compared a few of these shadow lists against the main database. Like line by line; one day it was like an 8hr meeting. And while there were errors in the main database, there were far more in the various shadow lists.
My favorite part was when one co-worker who maintained a shadow list asked "Well how do we know the database is correct?" Which my colleague and I retorted, "Well, how do we know your list is correct?" At least the main database is accessible to all staff who can and do check things and submit corrections to maintainers. Whereas these shadow lists are just hidden away, with no one able to check it other than the owner. Even when we discussed and agreed that the database is canonical, people still didn't get it. By definition, the database is the correct and authoritative source!
I've seen other crazier stuff with Excel in the office, but that was the most egregious because it was taking up so much time from so many people trying to figure out why people were getting bad numbers and erroneous lists of customers. At one point we had like 7 people -- half of our office -- involved in getting to the bottom of this.
They even cite errors on a Babylonian tablet from 1800 BC, so I suspect to some extent errors like this are human nature. Some of the errors they describe can definitely be attributed to "using...
They even cite errors on a Babylonian tablet from 1800 BC, so I suspect to some extent errors like this are human nature. Some of the errors they describe can definitely be attributed to "using Excel when it's not the right tool for the job" though, which is hopefully something that can be improved in the future.
Spreadsheets are very easy to use, and they're very powerful, but they're also very easy to make mistakes with. This is a list of those mistakes.
I don't know what the answer would be. I have no idea how we stop people misusing data and spreadsheets.
Reminds me of many of my co-workers. My favorite is that some of them had/have "shadow spreadsheets" of customers. Because for some reason they don't trust our databases systems.
A colleague and I found out about these only because some of the customer counts and other tracking (like how many and which customers were lost in various timeframes) that our co-workers were reporting, weren't jiving with what other co-workers -- who maintained their own shadow lists -- were reporting and what our official database said.
We then compared a few of these shadow lists against the main database. Like line by line; one day it was like an 8hr meeting. And while there were errors in the main database, there were far more in the various shadow lists.
My favorite part was when one co-worker who maintained a shadow list asked "Well how do we know the database is correct?" Which my colleague and I retorted, "Well, how do we know your list is correct?" At least the main database is accessible to all staff who can and do check things and submit corrections to maintainers. Whereas these shadow lists are just hidden away, with no one able to check it other than the owner. Even when we discussed and agreed that the database is canonical, people still didn't get it. By definition, the database is the correct and authoritative source!
I've seen other crazier stuff with Excel in the office, but that was the most egregious because it was taking up so much time from so many people trying to figure out why people were getting bad numbers and erroneous lists of customers. At one point we had like 7 people -- half of our office -- involved in getting to the bottom of this.
They even cite errors on a Babylonian tablet from 1800 BC, so I suspect to some extent errors like this are human nature. Some of the errors they describe can definitely be attributed to "using Excel when it's not the right tool for the job" though, which is hopefully something that can be improved in the future.