These 5 Benefits of Spreadsheets Make It a Vital Skill
Spreadsheets are essential for work or personal productivity
Yay, 2021! The year everything is going to improve. Start the year by learning and using the most popular, ubiquitous, and indispensable skill for any business or personal setting. The Spreadsheet. Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, and OpenOffice Calc are the major spreadsheet software programs available today (RIP Lotus 1–2–3). Here are 5 reasons why spreadsheet programs are essential.
Make it Meaningful
Spreadsheet programs are powerful because they convert a captured “list” into “information”. Take the entry of any simple list — ex. groceries, names of your cats, or names of your clients. You can type the list anywhere, even on paper but in a spreadsheet, it becomes structured into a valuable data table. We can now sort the data alphabetically, or by size. We can count, sum, or average it.
Entering any list into a spreadsheet instantly makes it meaningful.
Make it Expansive
Regardless of the contents, we can broaden any list. The grocery list can extend to include category, quantity, and price generating a budget. The cat list can extend to include birthdays or vaccinations. Add contact info, sales, last contacted date, or a note to your client list. Not only are the possibilities endless but elaborating your list will broaden your vision of the contents, eliciting new ideas.
Identifying otherwise disparate pieces of information for a list makes it expansive.
Make it Pertinent
We have thoughts, ideas, lists, and plans, but what we need are actionable tasks. The best feature inherent in spreadsheets, IMHO, is the ability to filter the data set. Select an expanded data set to activate the Filter feature, turning each column into a criteria selector. Categorize the foods in the grocery list to make shopping easier by aisle. Determine which cats have a birthday in December or need vaccinations?
Filtering provides an easy way to see actionable information, making it pertinent.
Make it Analytic
Spreadsheet programs provide an extensive list of formulas and the ability to generate pivot tables. With these capabilities, we can calculate numerous facts and view our information from different points of view. Do you eat more veggies or snacks? Which clients are increasing their purchases?
What do sports scores, social media likes, video game points, and scholastics grades have in common? Not numbers, but the comparison of numbers across vying entities, run our world. Spreadsheet programs provide the ability to generate analytics.
Make it Speak
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Select a set of data, then click a button to generate a powerful Chart.
A visual representation is more convincing to an audience than a litany of numbers.
In today’s data-centric world, the ability to convert data into information is job #1. Spreadsheet programs enhance data into meaningful, expansive, pertinent, and analytic information that tells a story. Make this the best new year by using this vital skill.
