3 Excel Calamities (FROM THE TIMES!) And How To Avoid Them
We’ve all had our Excel disasters – I’ve had more than I care to remember, and I’m sure you’ve had a few too. But I was intrigued to read about some real-life spreadsheet-based calamities recently which cost companies millions of dollars. And, what’s more, the article I read was in one of the UK’s most popular broadsheet newspapers. Such is the pervasiveness of Excel!
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In this video, I share what I learned about three real-life Excel calamities as reported in The Times newspaper on Wednesday 23rd October 2024. I recount what happened, and speculate as to what might have gone wrong in Excel to create the chaos. Did somebody type a phone number in as a ‘number’? Was some malicious VBA code causing a problem? Or was over-elaborate cell formatting to blame?
Because, while these stories are interesting and amusing (perhaps), nobody wishes to be a victim of an Excel calamity! What tips and tricks can we take forward to avoid them? I cover some practical ideas that you can start using today in the video, and would love to have your feedback in the YouTube comments.
Finally, and at a more general level, whose fault are these calamities? Do we just have to live with them?
The Times includes a second article, on the same day, which is something of a ‘love letter’ to Excel, apparently exonerating the software of blame completely and blaming the user for these problems. But is that fair? Shouldn’t we expect more of a piece of software published by a multi-billion dollar corporation that professionals across the world depend on? I give my two pennies, and would love to hear your thoughts too.
What Excel calamities have you come across over the years? Let me know in the YouTube comments!
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