41–50 of 142 posts
Every day I think about how Microsoft Access allowed otherwise not-so-tech-savvy users to, with just a little training and practice, build a complete relational database for their entire business, supported by a relatively sane GUI and a way to build forms and reports with very little (if any) 'code'. I have no idea what small companies are using nowadays, but I think there has to be some untapped middle ground somew…
Excel users tend to do a far better job of data storage, analysis, and forecasting than most of overpaid SaaS-reliant "modern data team" (Data Engineers, Data Analysts, Analytics Engineers, Data Scientists).
Both sides can either hack together horrible work-arounds (a matter of "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail...") as well as brilliantly thought through solutions.
Each tool should be used for it's best use cases, but not bent into what it wasn't designed for!
IMHO spreadsheets excel at intuitively manipulating the data ON the data itself. While "modern data" tools (especially dbt) try to convert date teams to use developer best practices... At the expense of less intuitive/direct manipulation of the data.
That being said, I think there are also things we could explore in that space: how to make the modern data stack more intuitive?
Yes please! Can I get this for Google Sheets? :/
I've learned products designed to replace spreadsheets have a huge hurdle because the people who use spreadsheets treat operating the sheet as their job. Replacing them removes their autonomy and control over an information process, and subsumes the value they bring to their employers - so they will resist products that threaten that. Excel is a complete management subculture. The other advice I give is if you are ge…
Excel can be replaced, but it won't be replaced by the current crop of VC-funded SaaS. > Airtable really ought to be killing Excel, but the SaaS model combined with a stupidly low artificial row count limit (over 50000 rows is listed as "contact us for pricing") means that it will never achieve penetration into weird and wonderful use cases like Excel has. Many Excel processes are 20+ years old. No SaaS could replace…
When we think of document based workflows as a problem (vs. say just the data/info), we tend to think of them as inefficient and prone to duplication, forking, editing, versioning problems - but I'd argue these are valuable features because they create levers for managing. Maybe I've spent too much time staring into the enterprise abyss and this is the inner deadness of a consultant speaking, but what documents facilitate (e.g. MS Office) is flexibility of ownership, provenance, authenticity, sources of truth, authority, and other qualities.
When you solve a problem, it becomes inert, there is nothing about it to manage anymore, which means someone can't extract value from it, and that's value destruction to them. SaaS problematizes these document features and then "solves," them, which in fact just constrains managers by concretizing data and workflows instead of being a tool that provides some data that ultimately supports a narrative conversation without being a forcing function on a dynamic of ongoing "problems" that is producing value for the business.
I'd suggest this is the quiet part your SaaS prospect customers can't say out loud, because managing isn't solving problems, it's extracting value from them, and using tech to collapse dynamics that are producing value is anti-value from that perspective.
Excel users tend to do a far better job of data storage, analysis, and forecasting than most of overpaid SaaS-reliant "modern data team" (Data Engineers, Data Analysts, Analytics Engineers, Data Scientists).
Meh, depends on the data teams (and their chosen suite of tools)... Or on the Excel users Both sides can either hack together horrible work-arounds (a matter of "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail...") as well as brilliantly thought through solutions. Each tool should be used for it's best use cases, but not bent into what it wasn't designed for! IMHO spreadsheets excel at intuitively manipulating t…
I'd start with getting people to learn relational data modeling and SQL [1][2] at a deep level. Stop reaching for python and pandas/spark for every basic data manipulation task or query. Stop adding in layers of Airflow/Dagster/Prefect when a simple cron would work. Stop adding in Kubernetes/GKE/Fargate to manage the aforementioned. Stop moving data between systems constantly (meltano, airbyte, fivetran) when you already have it in a perfectly good place. Stop with the toxic positivity that's completely overflowing the modern-data world and all these bullshit VC-infused startups who are convinced they need every single element and more.
99% of business needs can be satisfied by a single Postgres/Mysql installation and a halfway-competent person armed with SQL and an understanding of normalization. Reach for Excel when you need to do more "hands-on" analysis, business modeling, charting, basic forecasting, and presentation for non-technical users.
Every day I think about how Microsoft Access allowed otherwise not-so-tech-savvy users to, with just a little training and practice, build a complete relational database for their entire business, supported by a relatively sane GUI and a way to build forms and reports with very little (if any) 'code'. I have no idea what small companies are using nowadays, but I think there has to be some untapped middle ground somew…
DB Browser for SQLite is the coolest database product I’ve used recently. Similar to Mito, DB Browser generates SQL into a log as operations are performed in the GUI. Kind of a fun way to learn some basic SQL. I need to find a good GUI authoring layer for SQLite…
Every day I think about how Microsoft Access allowed otherwise not-so-tech-savvy users to, with just a little training and practice, build a complete relational database for their entire business, supported by a relatively sane GUI and a way to build forms and reports with very little (if any) 'code'. I have no idea what small companies are using nowadays, but I think there has to be some untapped middle ground somew…