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I only use Google Sheets

mayberay.bearblog.dev

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Re: I only use Google Sheets

#11

Post by cjs_ac »

> To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess what the new requirements are and either try enhance the current solution or find an alternative that better solve the problem.

When solving a problem, solve the problem you have, not the problem you think you might have in the future, or the problem you wish you had. Your solution will prove inadequate in the future, but you are unlikely to correctly predict in what way your solution will be inadequate.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#13

Post by f1shy »

cjs_ac wrote: post #11

> To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess what the new requirements are and either try enhance the current solution or find an alternative that better solve the problem. When solving a problem, solve the problem you have, not the problem you think you might have in the future, or the problem you wish you…

But: if it is not more work, you can solve your problem by solving a family of problems around your problem in the problem space, making the solution robust, as small changes in the problem definition can easily be catached by small changes in your solution.

That should, with no extra work, solve future problems.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#14

Post by chii »

cjs_ac wrote: post #11

> To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess what the new requirements are and either try enhance the current solution or find an alternative that better solve the problem. When solving a problem, solve the problem you have, not the problem you think you might have in the future, or the problem you wish you…

> you are unlikely to correctly predict in what way your solution will be inadequate

but you can choose a current solution that does not block nor inhibit a future solution. As they say, always keep your options open, and don't vendor lock-in yourself into a corner.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#15

Post by PanoptesYC »

salviati wrote: post #3

Reminds me of "Ask HN: Is the world run by badly updated Excel sheets?" [0] You need experience to see the shorcomings of spreadsheets. No version control. No tests. In general it's good for things that don't need to evolve, but stay the same (most likely because they're short lived). [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33611431 [EDIT] An example of a comment from that thread pointing in this direction: > In gen…

I've mostly seen the problem manifest when information is spread across a multitude of spreadsheets all stored in different places. The people involved don't know which spreadsheets contain what information and which are supposed to. Sometimes they end up having conflicting data purely because they don't realise that someone else thinks the primary source is spreadsheet A while they're only making changes to spreadsheet B.

Any flaws with Excel haven't been due to the actual program or data, but just how the files are managed within projects. Labyrinthian sharepoints, files being forgotten about on network storage, etc.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#16

Post by maccard »

dvh wrote: post #7

I haven't used Google sheets for maybe 2 years, didn't have the need, but week ago I needed to send customer a table that will be updated every couple of days. I was surprised how slow it is. Table has 40 lines and 8 columns, static text only, and it takes 12s until I can edit it. For what it is (adding sentence every 3 day) it's ok but if I had to actually use it for myself on a daily basis it would drive me mad.

I run my household budgetting off google sheets - a clean load of 8 sheets, wth 20-200 rows and 20-50 columns including some simple cross-sheet formulas is fully loaded and interactive in less than 2 seconds. My work's sharepoint based Excel roadmap doc is 40 rows of 8 columns and takes about 15 seconds from clicking the link to actually being readable, for comparison.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#17

Post by nashashmi »

f1shy wrote: post #13
cjs_ac wrote: post #11

> To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess what the new requirements are and either try enhance the current solution or find an alternative that better solve the problem. When solving a problem, solve the problem you have, not the problem you think you might have in the future, or the problem you wish you…

But: if it is not more work, you can solve your problem by solving a family of problems around your problem in the problem space, making the solution robust, as small changes in the problem definition can easily be catached by small changes in your solution. That should, with no extra work, solve future problems.

I think you are saying you should be structured well enough to change your system to solve future problems.

Like do you really need a dashboard on day 1? Or reports on day 2? Sometimes you just need a log of data. And the columns can grow and shrink.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#18

Post by mft_ »

I've long argued that spreadsheets are essentially a structured programming tool for people that would never imagine they could or would program. And maybe even a gateway drug in a proportion of cases?

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#19

Post by ikaros02 »

mft_ wrote: post #18

I've long argued that spreadsheets are essentially a structured programming tool for people that would never imagine they could or would program. And maybe even a gateway drug in a proportion of cases?

Mary Shaw discusses spreadsheets as an example of vernacular programming in a paper I read: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3480947

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#20

Post by t_mann »

cjs_ac wrote: post #11

> To cut things short, always use the easiest solution to solve a particular problem and once that solution does not work for the business anymore reassess what the new requirements are and either try enhance the current solution or find an alternative that better solve the problem. When solving a problem, solve the problem you have, not the problem you think you might have in the future, or the problem you wish you…

> Your solution will prove inadequate in the future, but you are unlikely to correctly predict in what way your solution will be inadequate.

One inadequacy could be complete dependency on a vendor who accidentally locks you out of all your services or starts scalping you with ever higher fees. That one is quite predictable here.

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