Coworker told me my Excel spreadsheets were "too pretty" and it stung at first but they were right

I spent like 2 hours on color coding and merging cells for a weekly inventory report. My coworker Sarah looked over my shoulder and said "dude it looks nice but I can't actually sort anything in here." She showed me how to use tables and pivot tables instead. Now I get the same data done in 20 minutes. Has anyone else had that moment where someone's criticism actually saved you time?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_hayes2524d agoMost Upvoted

Did Sarah just totally call you out in the best way possible, @the_margaret? My buddy Mark had the same wake-up call when his boss printed out his color-coded masterpiece and said "I can't filter by date in this rainbow.

the_margaret24d ago

Oh honey, I had that same thing happen about 10 years ago with a monthly budget sheet I spent a whole afternoon formatting. My son took one look and said "Mom, you made a pretty picture, not a spreadsheet." It stung but he was right, I was basically wasting time on looks instead of function.