March, 2014
By, Sam Noyd
If you’ve been using a computer long enough, you’ve probably seen one – a tangled spreadsheet that is so complex, so intricate, even its creator is left scratching his or her head. The spreadsheet is a great tool, but it also lends itself to becoming complex and confusing. The confusion and complexity is compounded by the fact that spreadsheets are often emailed with minimal explanation or used long after their creator has moved on.
If one was to rank the different forms of communication, such as face-to-face, phone, emails, texting, etc., most people would probably agree that communicating via a macro-enabled spreadsheet with countless lines of Visual Basic Code without comments is at the bottom of the list. Our first reaction might be to create a users’ manual to help, but unfortunately the users’ manual is right there at the bottom of the list of forms of communication because few people actually read them. Let’s try a different approach.
It might have been a while since you last heard someone mention Occam’s Razor. According to Wikipedia, Occam’s Razor states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be selected. One interpretation of this is, “the simplest solution is often the best.”
So the next time you sit down at your keyboard and crack your knuckles as you prepare to build the most impressive spreadsheet ever, remember Occam’s Razor, and embrace the simplicity. Take a page from Apple’s iPhone playbook and try to architect your spreadsheet in a way that doesn’t need a users’ manual. Use color to highlight cells and guide the reader’s eye. Clearly indicate which cells should be changed as opposed to those that should not. Use straightforward names and limit use of acronyms and abbreviations that haven’t been clearly defined. Push yourself to make the spreadsheet as simple as possible. Not only will you be left with a spreadsheet that is easier for others to understand, it might even be more robust since there are less moving parts to break.