“What really has the spreadsheet users charmed is not the hard and fast figures but the “what if” factor: the ability to create scenarios, explore hypothetical developments, try out different options.”
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge
Spreadsheets are infinitely useful for quantitative analysis: crunching numbers and modeling financial scenarios.
But spreadsheets are also powerful tools for emotional, qualitative analysis.
A spreadsheet is like a butterfly net for capturing unruly ideas. Once those ideas are laid out in the clean grid of a spreadsheet, they can be systematically arranged, ranked, and evaluated.
Here are a few helpful spreadsheets to help you capture ideas and make informed decisions.
“$100 Test” for Ranking Group Priorities
This free Google spreadsheet allows groups of people to rank and assign value to a list of competing priorities by spending an imaginary $100 across categories.
Spreadsheet for Ranking Group Decisions →
Eisenhower Matrix Spreadsheet
The Eisenhower Matrix (or Eisenhower Box or Principal) is a very simple tool for eliminating busy work and making decisions based on what’s truly important.
Eisenhower Matrix Spreadsheet→
A Heat Map for Decision Making
Here’s a free visual Heat Map for Google Sheets for individuals or groups to rank a list of competing priorities and discover alignment.
A Heat Map for Decision Making→
A Decision Making Framework in Google Sheets
Here’s a simple and useful Google Sheets-based framework for scoring criteria to help make informed decisions from the folks at Spreadsheet Solving.
The problem with spreadsheets is they have been primarily marketed as a solution for number crunchers and techies. That’s too bad, because my best spreadsheets have no formulas … and some don’t even contain a single number.
Spreadsheets and You
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