I’ll always be the first to admit that the things that interest me may be of little (technical) interest to you. However, I figure “Hey, why not just start documenting my random gibberish findings?!” and well, here we are with a short but sweet article on Dataflows Gen2 in Microsoft Fabric. Backstory: I’ve always been […]
Read more "It’s a LongType() to the top (If you want to rock and roll)"Being the 115th ranked general Excel blog on the internet sure has a nice ring to it. Well deserving of your e-mail subscription (located in the bottom right hand corner) if I was to be rather James Blunt about it. But what good is a rank if there are multiple categories to be considered? “Voted best burger […]
Read more "I’m Unsure How Official This Ranking System Really Is…"If repetition is the key to mastery, repeating an activity the wrong way is a killer in disguise. A countless waste of hours dedicated to a mundane task. Fortunately, Excel is intended to avoid such things, and the distance between getting it done and being a master is much shorter than you may realize. killer filler [kil-er] verb, Slang task or activity, that is particularly […]
Read more "All Filler – No Killer"Undoubtedly you have called a function a formula and a formula a function; it’s just the nature of the Excel-lingo beast. That stops now. I want you to see functions for what they truly are: computer programming. You may feel like you are not yet ready to call yourself a computer programmer – but you are. And I […]
Read more "What The Func?!"The founding fathers of Multiplan intended that spreadsheets would be for everyone: the rich and the poor, the data analyst and the data scientist, the sighted and the vision impaired. Often, things that we take for granted make a world of difference to others. Take the appropriate steps now to ensure that your work is up to accessibility standards. Download Workbook Add It: Navigate to […]
Read more "Make Spreadsheets Accessible Again!"“What gets measured gets managed.” Peter Drucker Analysts estimate anywhere from 50-80% of their time is dedicated to cleansing information (Source: New York Times). Making use of Excel’s data validation controls can drastically reduce this necessary evil when developed properly. No longer will you spend hours trying to infer if “S” really means “Saturday” or “Sunday”; […]
Read more "Love It Or List It"Not since the great territory battles of 7-Eleven Vs. Quiktrip, has there been such an unparalleled rivalry: “VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH?“A seemingly innocent question, when asked among Excel users, gives you a general perception of one another. There is one function’s inability to turn left and the others reliance on multiple functions for use. One’s perceived simplicity vs. the others perceived complexity. Are […]
Read more "Defining The Great Divide"In a world of instant gratification and “I need this done yesterday,” it’s difficult to consistently check your work. Being the mad data scientist that you are, you would prefer to double-, triple- and even centuple-check your workbook before releasing it into the wild. Well, what if I told you that you could be both thorough and efficient? […]
Read more "WATCH OUT!"“If I paint something, I don’t want to have to explain what it is.” -Bob Ross A common theme you will hear me discussing is storytelling. “They” say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the human eye is receptive to shapes and colors as a means for detecting object variances. That’s why telling a visual story is so […]
Read more "You Don’t Owe Anyone An Explanation"You will never learn more about Excel than on the day you inherit a broken workbook. You’re tasked with uncovering the method to the original author’s madness, and if you’re not careful you can get lost trying to understand why the author did things the way they did instead of finding the solution. Error Type Description #NULL! When a […]
Read more "To Err Is Computational"We all have problems. Excel is an executable. No more or less than 1’s and 0’s interpreted by your operating system. To its unsuspecting users it is perceived as a daunting application full of things that you keep meaning to learn more about. Just stop. Excel is not the solution to your problems, you are. Without an answer […]
Read more "We Need To Talk"“I don’t know what you’re making me do and I have no idea when I will ever use this.“ Good. That means you’re on the right track, because I need you to look past the obvious and start concentrating on the possibilities. Let’s consider this idea: 50% of Excel’s abilities have to do with inputting text and numbers. The other 50% have to […]
Read more "Wait a Minute Doc. Are You Telling Me That You Built a Time Machine Out of a Spreadsheet?"In our last lesson we talked about following the laws of fields and records. Now is the time to expand on that thought process because everything you knew about cell ranges and formulas is about to get turned upside down with two simple keyboard strokes. Right now is your come-to-Jesus moment. You have been abusing yourself managing […]
Read more "The Million Dollar Bracket"There’s nothing better than releasing the final version of your workbook – every bit of sacrifice, blood, sweat and coffee stain for the world to bask in its majesty, for small children to sing songs about and draw pictures of in kindergarten classrooms. Having finally realized Maslow’s theory of self actualization in this single project […]
Read more "A Five Star Dinner On A Table With A Broken Leg"