Doing things the wrong way is different from being just plain wrong. Here, I describe having been wrong in my analysis and someone was issued a check for $5000 more than they were due.
The good news is that the problem was caught, decisions were made, and everyone survived. Being wrong is part of the reality of working with data.
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
Today Alex Powers at ItsNotAboutTheCell posted a comment that reminded me that:
1. We all started using Excel all the wrong ways.
2. The Excel community is great about sharing knowledge and helping others not have to work so hard.
Here, I share a story about the olden days and doing things the hard way.
Check out Alex at:
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Analysis-Using-Microsoft-Excel/dp/1615470336
#SSSVED is Vlog Every Day in April, inspired by Amy Schimttauer at SavvySexySocial.
This vlog takes you into my Excel work style and environment: the things that you won’t learn in a workshop but the kinds of things that we each feel are essential to be in place when we sit down to whoop some crap data.
Some of my essentials: hot chocolate, 2 mice and my workbook that holds a massive amount of random data, I also hide the Excel ribbon quite frequently.
It’d be nice to hear what other Excel users do to keep themselves focused and efficient.
====
Interesting Links:
My book: Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Analysis-Using-Microsoft-Excel/dp/1615470336
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Crowd sound fx courtesy of http://www.freesfx.co.uk/
A friend offers you ghost peppers and uses a chart to prove that the ghost pepper isn’t as hot as a poblano pepper, check the vertical axis on the graph. It might be logarithmic scale.
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
Sound fx from: http://www.freesfx.co.uk/
Event planners are fascinating. Talking with them is invigorating because everything they do is about data: guests, food, client budget, beer & wine, seating, table rental, time, fees …
A good event planner has a handle on all that data.
In this video I show a data model/template that I’ve been developing in Excel, based on conversations with event planners over the years.
It’d be great to hear from some event planners about this template and how you manage your data.
(Hand-drawn images courtesy of Freepik.com)
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
Download the sample file here: http://datascopic.net/Cmodel
A commissions plan can be more complex than straight multiplication. This video, and this is an example of what it means to build a “model.”
Modeling involves taking someone’s intentions and interpreting those intentions in Excel so that the right thing happens. The thought process and layout are often more challenging than the math.
Thanks to ExcelByJoe for bringing up commissions payments in one of his videos.
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Analy…
Over at Reddit /r/excel LSatyreD asked about converting a massive grid of ingredients into their corresponding recipes.
In this video, I show how to do this without writing code!
In Excel 2016, Get & Transform and a pivot table will get the desired result. (In Excel 2010 and 2013, Power Query is the old name for Get & Transform)
Also, see that a new recipe can be integrated with a simple ‘refresh.’
My blog: http://datascopic.net/blog2-2
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition
The original Reddit question:
Lots of people are thrown into the deep end with data. They are the unwitting analysts.
This video tells the tale of someone who works at a nonprofit. In this case, data wasn’t his job. He just jumped in, took control and uncovered a key bit of insight.
He started with a report that suggested that a snail-mail campaign wasn’t worth the hassle. But he used pivot tables to “disaggregate” the data and “track a narrative” that the snail-mail campaign was vital.
I share this story because it shows how a lack of technical skill can be made up for with curiosity, drive and giving a damn.
One interesting part of the story is how the roles were defined. The small nonprofit does have a tech person and her job is keeping the website up. Any reports or reporting are up to the staff.
Hence: the necessity of unwitting analysts.
BTW: the conversation started because he wanted to thank me for my book. The pivot table section suggested to him that he could dig behind the report summaries and get at a more granular truth.
Those stories fuel my passion for Excel, data and sharing the knowledge.
Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Ed.
Vulture image courtesy of Momotte2stocks
http://animal-resources.deviantart.com/art/Cut-out-stock-PNG-49-Turkey-vulture-384033207
We want to know if last week’s product usage was unusual compared to overall average usage.
This video shows how to set those alerts and use formula triggers to prevent calculations when the necessary data is incomplete.
Functions used are:
ABS – for calculating absolute value
COUNTA – for counting the non-empty cells in a range
You see Tables and Slicers, as well. This is a real Excel party!