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Is there anything in the backend arena that a small business couldn’t do with an excel spreadsheet?

1123581321 7y ago
Yes, 1) be irresistibly fun to use, 2) prevent users from doing the wrong thing, 3) be an aspirational purchase. That might sound like I’m making fun of productivity software, but I’m not—-now that instant communication is a commodity, organizational/productivity software has value mostly because it’s a self-limiting tool that shapes how we think and interact so we can do what we were already capable of doing.
- LifeIsBio 7y ago
  #2, and this comment in general, is a great point. I recently wrote my first piece of productivity software, which I use everyday. The main benefit I get out of it is reminding myself, “This structure is how I want to think about things.” The unlimited freedom of a spreadsheet comes with downsides, at least for me.
  - npo9 7y ago
    I keep a few emacs tables and template files for doing creative workflows. It’s easy to learn (once you bought into the eco system), fast to create (measured in minutes instead of hours or days), easy to use, and easy to modify. The big downside to emacs for productivity is that it’s less easy to share.
- scarejunba 7y ago
  I think with Retool + simple wrapper API around Sheets you could get this, if anyone wants to build it for themselves.
JesseAldridge 7y ago
Process 100,000 rows?
SkyPuncher 7y ago
IMO, make it realtime (i.e. Google Docs) and you have a great collaboration work flow. ---- My wife applied to residency last year. Each specialty has these giant spreadsheets (just like a database) they maintain collectively. which places are giving out interviews, how experiences were, what to look for, chat, questions, etc? These are 20+ page spreadsheets. I briefly worked on an app for helping put this in a better format (spreadsheets suck on mobile). It's a ton of work just to match the basic functionality of this document.
mamcx 7y ago
Yes. This was (partially) foxpro. I'm building a relational lang (http://tablam.org http://tablam.org - looking for help!) with the dream of turn it into an excel + access kind of thing. Excel is great for ad-hoc exploration (is kind of a different repl!) but is best AT THE END of the data pipeline. To make it well rounded, you need a good storage (rdbms), data language (sql, or hopefully my lang someday!), good way to do entry (CRUD form builder). And at the end, put a spreadsheet and/or interactive repl like Jupiter. More fancy stuff is welcome but this is the definition of a well rounded tool useful for small business.
- simplify 7y ago
  Sounds interesting! Would love to chat about it but I don't have skype. Check my profile if you'd like to connect.

Yes, 1) be irresistibly fun to use, 2) prevent users from doing the wrong thing, 3) be an aspirational purchase. That might sound like I’m making fun of productivity software, but I’m not—-now that instant communication is a commodity, organizational/productivity software has value mostly because it’s a self-limiting tool that shapes how we think and interact so we can do what we were already capable of doing.

LifeIsBio 7y ago
#2, and this comment in general, is a great point. I recently wrote my first piece of productivity software, which I use everyday. The main benefit I get out of it is reminding myself, “This structure is how I want to think about things.” The unlimited freedom of a spreadsheet comes with downsides, at least for me.
- npo9 7y ago
  I keep a few emacs tables and template files for doing creative workflows. It’s easy to learn (once you bought into the eco system), fast to create (measured in minutes instead of hours or days), easy to use, and easy to modify. The big downside to emacs for productivity is that it’s less easy to share.
scarejunba 7y ago
I think with Retool + simple wrapper API around Sheets you could get this, if anyone wants to build it for themselves.

JesseAldridge 7y ago

Process 100,000 rows?

SkyPuncher 7y ago

IMO, make it realtime (i.e. Google Docs) and you have a great collaboration work flow. ---- My wife applied to residency last year. Each specialty has these giant spreadsheets (just like a database) they maintain collectively. which places are giving out interviews, how experiences were, what to look for, chat, questions, etc? These are 20+ page spreadsheets. I briefly worked on an app for helping put this in a better format (spreadsheets suck on mobile). It's a ton of work just to match the basic functionality of this document.

mamcx 7y ago

Yes. This was (partially) foxpro. I'm building a relational lang (http://tablam.org http://tablam.org - looking for help!) with the dream of turn it into an excel + access kind of thing. Excel is great for ad-hoc exploration (is kind of a different repl!) but is best AT THE END of the data pipeline. To make it well rounded, you need a good storage (rdbms), data language (sql, or hopefully my lang someday!), good way to do entry (CRUD form builder). And at the end, put a spreadsheet and/or interactive repl like Jupiter. More fancy stuff is welcome but this is the definition of a well rounded tool useful for small business.

simplify 7y ago
Sounds interesting! Would love to chat about it but I don't have skype. Check my profile if you'd like to connect.