Art and Business (Volume 3)
This might sound strange, but I honestly think spreadsheets can be beautiful.
Just like beautiful poetry eloquently describes the essence of what we feel and see and experience, a beautiful spreadsheet can simply explain the inner workings of a system and what drives it.
A spreadsheet can get right to the heart of the matter and show you what’s really going on. The numbers tell a story.
Spreadsheets can focus your attention on a single variable in a complex equation. Sometimes this unlocks big ideas that improve our world.
If you ask thoughtful questions, a spreadsheet can uncover keen insights and reveal new paths forward that you never knew existed.
I’m not saying that all spreadsheets are beautiful.
A humdrum analysis that regurgitates the obvious certainly isn’t.
Spreadsheets that fixate on cutting costs by reducing quality to the lowest acceptable level aren’t particularly pleasing.
Most spreadsheets are useful, but that doesn’t mean they’re beautiful.
A beautiful spreadsheet is an extremely well-organized presentation of facts.
It’s an honest and precise assessment of what’s what.
It’s a numbers-based narrative that reveals a fundamental reality of what’s being measured.
A beautiful spreadsheet can help move a powerful mission forward, making it more impactful or viable or efficient.
Beautiful spreadsheets allow me to be more creative. They get me closer to a problem. By providing clear and simple answers to complicated questions, they serve as a foundation from which to go deeper. They take me a layer beneath the surface, allowing me to make discoveries that were previously hidden from view.
It’s easy to understand how some areas of business can be creative and artistic and inspiring and beautiful. Like design or marketing or new product development.
But even the lowly spreadsheet can be beautiful. And every once in a while that’s worth celebrating.