When Do Spreadsheets Stop Working?

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Kudurru Stone

Last Post by james-fleming 10 months ago

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Greg

(@gregory-wunz)

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Quick question.

We recently wrote a short, fictional story about “Gus the Surveyor”. A composite of situations we have seen in real survey offices. Looking at how much time spreadsheets quietly consume as jobs, billing, and schedules get busier.

Just a thought exercise using real-world scenarios we have seen:

Real Cost of Managing Surveys with Spreadsheets (Spoiler: It's More Than You Think)

Curious how this lines up with your experience:

At what point did spreadsheets become more pain than help?
Did you replace them, refine them, or just live with the overhead?
Any other comments regarding the pains of Excel?

Posted : December 16, 2025 12:16 pm

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excel project management

jhframe

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As the owner/operator of a very small business (no employees, annual billings usually less than $250k), your article wasn't really directed at me, so my comments aren't really germane. However, I throw them out anyway:

1. Spreadsheets remain much more helpful than painful. I use them for preparing estimates and invoices, and on larger projects for tracking various aspects of the work.

2. I live with the overhead, because it's well worth the cost.

3. I haven't used Excel in years, because LibreOffice Calc does everything I've ever needed to do in Excel. It reads .xslx files without complaint, and replicates every Excel command and formula structure that I've ever encountered. And it costs me only as much as I care to donate on occasion.

Posted : December 16, 2025 7:56 pm