Comments on: Excel is a great tool, but it’s a dumb one for Strategic Planning

By: Ed Adkins

Ed Adkins — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:46:01 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Dallon- we’ve been working hard to replace excel- at least for strategic planning purposes! (it still works great for what it was meant for, though.)

In relation to complexity, (if you haven’t checked it out yet) I wholeheartedly recommend John Mariotti’s work on it- The Complexity Crisis.

By: Dallon Christensen

Dallon Christensen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:54:25 +0000

I could not agree more with this blog entry. Excel and PowerPoint are the two most overused and misused applications in computer history. Excel is a great spreadsheet tool and can do a lot of things, but far too many people attempt to fit Excel (a square peg) into far too many applications (round holes).

The sheer size of the spreadsheets I work with on a daily basis provide too many links and formulas to truly trust whether the input entered produces verifiable, accurate output. Forcing Excel to do things it is not meant to do simply increases complexity at a time where we all face significant complexity in the workplace.

Dallon Christensen President/Founder Beacon Business Consulting LLC

By: Ed Adkins

Ed Adkins — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:40:09 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to comment on our post at http://www.mystrategicplan.com/blog! I’m glad you asked what solutions we have- that’s our business, http://www.mystrategicplan.com. Our web app takes users through building a robust and flexible strategic plan and then assists them in monitoring it from that point on. It solves each of the bullet points I listed in the post as well. If you’d like to check it out we have a two-week free trial- I’d love to hear your feedback.

By: G.B. Koerner

G.B. Koerner — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:29:04 +0000

Okay, I affirm the problem. What possible solutions have you?