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I only use Google Sheets

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Re: I only use Google Sheets

#281

Post by compiler-guy »

breadwinner wrote: post #193
compiler-guy wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now you have two problems. It’s not just SQL that you have to learn, but airtable. Which probably isn’t installed anywhere.

Not true. You can't use SQL in Airtable even if you want to, it just doesn't support it. Also, Airtable is SaaS, you can't install it.

s/install/somehow obtain access/

Doesn’t really change the point.

As of this writing, there are twenty-two comments on this thread about airtable. All but four are either you or responding to you bringing it up.

I think it’s fair to say that whatever its advantages may be, it is relatively unknown, and therefore a higher-overhead entree into programming than straight up spreadsheets.

Just learning about it or finding fit for purpose takes more time than diving into a spreadsheet. And as always the argument is not that spreadsheets are more powerful or better, but that they are much easier and more incremental to learn and start with.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#282

Post by Gud »

I work for an American mega corporation that you’ve definitely heard of - my department relies heavily on a couple of spread sheets. They have survived 3 times of corporate buy out of my factory.

The spreadsheets looked dated when I started working here, 7 years ago.

2 years ago, my latest manager tried to move the department off these spread sheets to the corporation wide system. Another corporate wide system is set to replace the system we still aren’t using by the end of 2026.

I suspect we’ll still rely on our spread sheets in 2027.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#283

Post by ChuckMcM »

corry wrote: post #59

Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…

Hard agree here. The value of combining database + UX + logic into a workbench is like the app we've been reinventing over and over again. It's why Visual Basic still lives :-).

And yes, not the greatest way to proceed once you know what you want, but a heck of a way to iterate quickly and identify the actual requirements.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#284

Post by zelphirkalt »

raybb wrote: post #240
Aachen wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's sadly no silver bullet, especially for non-techies. To me it's like buying vegan products where available: I can't trivially become vegan with no effort, but I can affect market forces by preferentially buying things that align with that ideal. People could at least apply this where possible and buy products where they're in control somehow For storage platforms like Dropbox or Onedrive, it can be as simple a…

Perhaps there's a market for this. An automated or semi-automated backup of many cloud services. It could probably be as simple as doing a gdpr request in some cases.

That's not necessarily simple though, because some companies are shady and ass about it. And then if you want to pursue the matter, be ready to face significant effort needed to file a proper complaint in the correct channels for that.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#286

Post by password4321 »

bluGill wrote: post #64
corry wrote: post #59

Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…

I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Most of what people do with a spreadsheet would be better done in a database - but a database needs a lot more training to use (if you don't have the training you will make something worse than spreadsheet with your database!)

Years ago I used Excel (VBA) as a CRUD interface on a database with minimal validation, it didn't take too long.

Pretty sure something fairly similar is built-in these days.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#287

Post by jmkd »

mixcocam wrote: post #233
jmkd wrote: post #41

Xoogler here. For my five years we only used Sheets (called Trix internally) for everything from project management, CRM, quarterly planning, reporting, interviewing, finances and so on. This was not because it was a Google product (we used plenty of competitors' products) but because it is so easy to make them good enough for the task that you can move on to getting the job done instead of administrating getting the…

I have heard that at google collaboration happens with: - making lists (google groups) - gsheets - basic real time chat with auto disappear Is that the case? I find that super interesting. No sexy Slack or Teams type of thing?

That was the case from 2011-2016. I can't say with as much certainty now, but anecdotally, probably similar.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#288

Post by Chilko »

jeroenhd wrote: post #33
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…

> No version control You can use version control with Excel spreadsheets, though it's not very good. It's called "track changes" and even has a limited capacity to approve/reject changes from other people. Very few people uses that feature, especially not the people who have built a Rube Goldberg machine to run their business processes, but you could do it if you wanted to.

That's not the only version control through - if you use Excel connected to Onedrive or Sharepoint (like most major orgs in my country), then you have version history built-in tracking every edit going back months.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#289

Post by B-Con »

mixcocam wrote: post #233
jmkd wrote: post #41

Xoogler here. For my five years we only used Sheets (called Trix internally) for everything from project management, CRM, quarterly planning, reporting, interviewing, finances and so on. This was not because it was a Google product (we used plenty of competitors' products) but because it is so easy to make them good enough for the task that you can move on to getting the job done instead of administrating getting the…

I have heard that at google collaboration happens with: - making lists (google groups) - gsheets - basic real time chat with auto disappear Is that the case? I find that super interesting. No sexy Slack or Teams type of thing?

Chat supports rooms with chat threads without autodisappear. Everyone is in various rooms for their local team, broader team, org, and cross functional stuff. The net effect is Slack-like.

There's also the ticket system. Sheets are commonly used by various PMs and TPMs for high level tracking, but IC eng stick with the tickets.

It works fine.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#290

Post by busymom0 »

I coach people for powerlifting and create their programs in Google Sheets. I even have functions setup for converting a given weight to their plate breakdowns (for example 455lb squat would be broken down as: bar, 4x45lb plates, 1x25lb plate). My athletes can enter their current one rep maxes and the sheet auto updates the numbers for each training session. They can record notes about how each set went, how many reps they got etc. and then I can review them. It's all super convenient.
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