Comments on: Are Excel Charts Hurting Your Business? 10 Mistakes You Should Avoid.

By: Keoagile

Keoagile — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:24:33 +0000

So, so true Allan. Excel is still a mystery to a lot of people. I know some accountants who think Excel has no place in their office.

By: Allan

Allan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:32:23 +0000

There is no doubt that a ‘Go to Excel Person’ is a must for all companies, regardless of size.
It is now common knowledge that many, probably out of ignorance, denigrates Excel and chooses other programs to reduce errors. But errors and mistakes are not stapled to the application but rather to the person who created the spreadsheet.

Excel is here to stay, if you want it or not, toddlers can be good, but a dedicated person is necessary.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:15:09 +0000

In our defense, those toddlers are pretty damn good at Excel. Jus’ sayin’…

By: Analytics Team » Blog Archive » 10 Excel chart mistakes to avoid

Analytics Team » Blog Archive » 10 Excel chart mistakes to avoid — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:57:04 +0000

[...] because everyone has Excel doesn’t mean everyone knows how to use it correctly. Jorge Cameos brings us 10 Excel chart mistakes to avoid. Make sure to check out his site for all the [...]

By: Jorge Camoes

Jorge Camoes — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:38:26 +0000

@ Andy: Yes, I will write about other tools in the future.

By: Alex J

Alex J — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:04:40 +0000

I’ll second what Jeffrey said:
- a damn fine post
- creating the right data set is really an underestimated component of the process.

And I REALLY liked the point about a go-to person. That’s a role I have tried to play for a while now – but having a manager who promotes that role is what has made a difference.

A perceptive and thought-provoking post.

By: jeffrey weir

jeffrey weir — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:16:33 +0000

THis is a damn fine post.

One thing I would add is #11: Not Using good enough data input queries (e.g. SQL queries or whatever database language/protocols) when importing data to excel in the first place – and not having a good enough overview of the data that your organisation collects and how/where it’s stored.

As per your comment re VBA, if you spend your time analyzing data and Excel is your primary tool, then understanding (and being able to tweak) the queries that you rely on for your data gives you a much greater degree of certainty that your information is what you think it is, and that it is the best information available. In my job, SQL is more important than VBA, as once I get the right information into Excel Pivottables, then the pivottables allow me to do 80% of my analysis, with no VBA neccessary.

But that is not to undermine the value of learning VBA – I’m just heading down that path, and I’m already reaping the rewards.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:51:57 +0000

Which of the three do you prefer? (could that be a subject of a future post?)

By: Jorge Camoes

Jorge Camoes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:21:00 +0000

@ Andy: I just wanted to show things that can’t be easily done in Excel. I used images from Tableau, R and SpotFire.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:53:54 +0000

Great post – so very very true!

BTW – interesting that you’re using Tableau charts to illustrate Excel charts – I guess that’s because making a decent visualisation in Tableau takes seconds, whereas doing the same in Excel takes a long time!