In the thriving world of Excel content creation, one could be forgiven for thinking that every possible problem already has a “best practice” solution. A simple search yields a flood of tutorials, YouTube videos, shorts, and webinars—many created by respected influencers and MVPs—each presenting their own take on the “right” way to solve spreadsheet problems.
Yet, amid this abundance of solutions, there is a conspicuous absence of something critical: contextual guidance.
Nowhere in the mainstream social media content is there a structured framework to answer these fundamental questions:
- What technique is appropriate for which problem?
- In what context is it best applied?
- For what type of user?
- What alternatives exist, and what trade-offs do they involve?
Instead, the dominant narrative tends to present each technique—be it Power Query, Dynamic Arrays, or Lambda—as the way. As if Excel were a hammer, and every business problem a nail. The deeper, more intellectually honest exercise of evaluating suitability, scalability, maintainability, or integration potential is rarely addressed.
This is not a coincidence. It’s a structural flaw in the social media ecosystem.
The currency of platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok is not insight—it’s engagement. And engagement is rewarded by brevity, spectacle, and instant gratification. Five-minute videos, one-minute shorts, and swipe-friendly carousels do not lend themselves to critical thinking, let alone to nuanced comparisons between architectural paradigms. There is little social currency to be gained from such work.
Enter: Mission Impossible
The Excel Mission Impossible series was created to fill that void. Not with yet another “how-to” video—but with thoughtful, scenario-driven challenges that model the real-world complexity of enterprise Excel use. These are not clickbait puzzles for entertainment—they are designed to:
- Surface deeper questions about suitability, design, and trade-offs.
- Test scalability and adaptability under realistic conditions.
- Encourage a broader, more strategic understanding of Excel as an enterprise platform—not just a calculation tool.
And yes, the series will, by necessity, challenge some of the techniques promoted as universal solutions. Not out of malice, but out of respect for the real needs of businesses: agility, reliability, control, and maintainability.
Pre-empting the Pushback
We anticipate that some influencers and content creators will view this initiative as criticism. That is understandable—but it misses the point.
Mission Impossible does not seek to tear down contributors. On the contrary, it invites their participation. If any contributor feels their technique has been misrepresented, they are encouraged to respond, refine, and demonstrate its suitability in the scenarios posed. This is an open conversation, not a courtroom.
But we must also acknowledge a pattern. When valid challenges are posed—challenges that require a detailed, grounded response—some of the most vocal content creators fall silent. Rather than engage, they disappear. This silence does not serve the Excel community.
The Mission Impossible series hopes to smoke out this avoidance. To encourage an elevated conversation. To shift the focus from what gets likes and shares, to what actually works in the real world.
Reclaiming the Narrative
Take, for example, the oft-repeated claim on LinkedIn that “it would take IT a year to give the business a database.” This is demonstrably false. In many Mission Impossible episodes, we show how a database is created in seconds. And a fully working database-integrated Excel solutions delivered within hours or days—not months.
Or consider the ambiguous promotion of “purpose-built” solutions by some commentators. Does this mean custom solutions tailored to a business need? Or one-size-fits-all SaaS platforms that require businesses to contort their processes to fit the software? These are opposites. And yet the ambiguity remains—perhaps because clarity would invite scrutiny?
Scrutiny is exactly what Mission Impossible welcomes. Because businesses deserve better than dogma. They deserve clarity, strategic thinking, and the ability to compare options in addressing a given vision—not just features of tools.
The Way Forward
We believe that Excel is not “just a spreadsheet,” but a flexible, powerful, and underappreciated platform. We believe that business users—especially those working on high-stakes processes—deserve content that treats them as professionals, not consumers of viral tips.
The Excel Mission Impossible series is a newcomer to the conversation, but a necessary one. It asks uncomfortable questions. It challenges established practices. It holds up a mirror—not to shame, but to raise the bar.
If you’re up for that challenge, welcome aboard.
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