Seeing like a spreadsheet • Hacker News Board

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#11

Post by Waterluvian » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #10

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

Absolutely. And the data and code being stored all in one file makes it exceptionally nimble for the planning phase. You can generally count on any stakeholder in your org being able to handle it.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#12

Post by thomascountz » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #10

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

Can you give an example of what you mean by "planning?"

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#13

Post by itishappy » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 9:39 PM UTC

whatever1 wrote: post #10

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

For better or worse...

A single spreadsheet used locally is probably the best imaginable tool for answering "what if I changed that."

That same sheet shared across an organization suddenly becomes a game of "what caused that change."

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#14

Post by satisfice » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

Was anyone using a spreadsheet to drive automation for testing earlier than 1988?

I have some reason to believe my team was the first within Apple SQA to lean heavily into that, but I’d love to hear of earlier examples.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#15

Post by pphysch » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

thomascountz wrote: post #12

whatever1 wrote: post #10

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

Can you give an example of what you mean by "planning?"

Budget planning, presumably. How much you are going to spend and on what, and what you need to charge for your products to break even or meet a profit goal.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#16

Post by pphysch » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 10:16 PM UTC

andrewstuart wrote: post #2

I really feel for Dan Bricklin. He should have been richly rewarded for his innovation.

He was, for a time, until others made even better products. It would've been terrible if he had exclusive IP over the idea of "digital spreadsheet".

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#17

Post by nbaksalyar » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 10:27 PM UTC

I think spreadsheets have been severely undervalued by software engineers and they're generally under-researched. It's definitely possible to use them in more non-obvious and interesting ways. E.g., see AmbSheets [1]

[1] https://www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/notebook/

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#18

Post by othomp » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 10:59 PM UTC

nbaksalyar wrote: post #17

I think spreadsheets have been severely undervalued by software engineers and they're generally under-researched. It's definitely possible to use them in more non-obvious and interesting ways. E.g., see AmbSheets [1] [1] https://www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/notebook/

You can do this in Excel but it's not all in one cell [0].

[0] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/spilled-range-ope...

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#19

Post by iddan » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 11:27 PM UTC

The rich and complex history of spreadsheets inspired me to build React Spreadsheet. Along the way I deepened (and others) understanding of the complexities and intricacies of spreadsheets https://iddan.github.io/react-spreadsheet

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#20

Post by quantummagic » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 11:56 PM UTC

pphysch wrote: post #15

thomascountz wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give an example of what you mean by "planning?"

Budget planning, presumably. How much you are going to spend and on what, and what you need to charge for your products to break even or meet a profit goal.

I don't know how true it is today, but many a rollercoaster has been designed/planned in a spreadsheet. g-force and speed analysis, making sure there aren't any "blackout" points, etc. It allows you to iterate quickly and automatically appreciate the ramification of design decisions.