Is Excel For The Common Man? YES!
My friend Mike asked, "is Excel for the common man?" The answer is yes, but I had to find a good example for someone who's recently retired and has no workplace need for Excel. But, wherever there's data, there's opportunity to use Excel. Wherever there's data, a need...
My 3 Words for 2015
Over the past few years I've joined this activity of choosing 3 words as a theme for the new year. Chris Brogan started this back in 2006, and here's his suggestion on how you can go about choosing your words: How to Choose Your Three Words Lots of people pick words...
REDUX: Interviewing for Excel Skill
Last week I was in a cafe and saw 2 professional-looking middle-aged gentlemen at a table. One guy told the other how he'd advised someone not to take a computerized Excel exam as part of an interview. His personal experience was that those exams are just frustration....
The Anti-VLOOKUP Crowd Is Out In The Streets Again!
Today we explore this ongoing debate over VLOOKUP vs. INDEX/MATCH. I say it’s a false dichotomy and unnecessary confusion.
The Pinocchio Theory & 3 Basics Where Excel Whoops Google
THE PINOCCHIO THEORY In 1977 Bootsy Collins released the hit song Pinocchio Theory. Its main warning is: If you fake the funk, your nose will grow There are a lot of long noses in the data world--specifically with folks who continually bash Excel and write its...
5 Suggestions for: “HELP! Teach Me Excel”
“Teach me Excel” is a hard request to satisfy. Here is why and 5 suggestion on how to get started learning Excel.
Excel, Christmas, Krampus & Kids
Mynda Treacy's recent blogpost at MyOnlineTrainingHub is a hot one! Excel Custom Validation to Limit Entries poses a fun and excellent solution that Santa probably deals with every year: How does Santa set up Excel to allow a kid to request no more than 3 presents for...
Getting to the Sexy Data
We all want to get to the sexy data and none of us are immune to the pain of cleaning data before it’s useful. Today we look deeper into this problem.
Array Formula Fun: Calculate the Closest Due Date
After Mike Girvin’s appearance on Excel TV I saw the array formula light!
Here’s an example of an array formula used to find the closest due date for people and their list of tasks.
Guerrilla Data Analysis Has Been Re-Written!
It's been quiet around here for the past few months. Why? I've been writing an Excel book. Actually, I wrote an Excel book with Mr Excel, Bill Jelen. It was turned in to the publisher on 1JUL14. And what does any self-respecting guerrilla analyst/author do to...
What Made My Trainee Cry?
On Episode 12 of Excel TV I said a little about a trainee who started crying as I was teaching her the details of her new job. This story comes up in conversations around the challenges of working with data. This particular challenge was a complete data...
Bad Data, Ok Data
This week, Chris Penn's blogpost was about "When Bad Data Can Be Okay." I agree with everything he says about distinguishing between data that's predictably wrong and still useful just plain unreliable and not useful mysterious but you might be able to figure it out...