Spreadsheet Addiction
Posted by Armando Brito Mendes | Filed under estatística, materiais para profissionais
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Um bom e muito completo relato dos defeitos do MS Excel para análise de dados.
Some people will think that the “addiction” in the title is over the top, or at least used metaphorically. It is used literally, and is not an exaggeration.
Addiction is the persistent use of a substance where that use is detrimental to the user. It is not the substance that is the problem — more limited use may be beneficial. It is the extent and circumstances of the use that determine if the behavior is addictive or not.
Spreadsheets are a wonderful invention. They are an excellent tool for what they are good at. The problem is that they are often stretched far beyond their home territory. Dangerous abuse of spreadsheets is only too common.
I know there are many spreadsheets in financial companies that take all night to compute. These are complicated and commonly fail. When such spreadsheets are replaced by code more suited to the task, it is not unusual for the computation time to be cut to a few minutes and the process much easier to understand.
A 2012 example of spreadsheet addiction.
The technology acceptance model holds that there are two main factors that determine the uptake of a technology: the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease-of-use. Perception need not correspond to reality.
The perception of the ease-of-use of spreadsheets is to some extent an illusion. It is dead easy to get an answer from a spreadsheet, however, it is not necessarily easy to get the right answer. Thus the distorted view.
The difficulty of using alternatives to spreadsheets is overestimated by many people. Safety features can give the appearance of difficulty when in fact these are an aid.
The hard way looks easy, the easy way looks hard.
The remainder of this page is divided into the sections:
Spreadsheet Computation
The Treatment Center (Alternatives)
If You Must Persist
Specific Problems with Excel
Additional Links
Tags: análise de dados, Excel, programação em folha de cálculo
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