A Love Letter to Excel
Dear Excel,
I can’t live without you. You fulfill all my needs, both personally and professionally. How did people survive before you existed, I will never know. Ever since I found you in grade school, I’ve become smitten. Luckily, getting to know you wasn’t very hard. You were everywhere and everyone knew about you. You were very open, nothing is hidden. If I didn’t understand something, all I had to do was ask.
We started off simple, with some basic arithmetic. You are brilliant, no matter how complicated the problem, you solved with ease and grace. In college, you were even more indispensable. Anything to do with data and numbers, you were there. You were with me through all the late night projects and barely reached deadlines.
Now, we have become old friends. You’re by my side every day, at work and at home. You are there for me when I need to create graphs for work, you are there for me when I need to budget and plan for a vacation. And yet, there is still so much of you to discover.
Sure, you have your quirks. Sometimes you get cranky and freeze on me. I understand, sometimes I ask too much, the data is too large for you to process. You face a lot of pressure. You have been around for over 30 years. In our current world where applications are being created like bunnies, you might be afraid of becoming obsolete. There are many that try to replace you. I have to confess, I use Google Sheets, but don’t worry, I always come back to you. Google Sheets doesn’t have all the capability that you have.
I can’t imagine a world without you. You play a significant role in launching thousands of start ups and setting in motion billions of financial decisions. You have not only impacted my life but also changed the world.
Love,
Stephanie
Note: This is a response to a DesignLab’s UX Academy exercise. I mainly tried to answer the questions: What is a digital product that you can’t live without? What problems does it solve for you?
