The Introduction to a Collection
By Hiran de Silva
Every so often a spreadsheet challenge appears that turns out to be about much more than the spreadsheet itself.
This is one of them.
The scenario was created by Elen, from Malaysia, and first came to my attention through Oz du Soleil, who introduced me to a similar holiday expenses problem back in 2019.
On the surface, it looks deceptively simple.
A group of friends go out for dinner.
Different people pay different restaurant bills.
The objective is to settle the accounts fairly.
That’s it.
Or so it seems.
Over the coming months I want to use Elen’s Footballer Challenge as the focal point for a collection of articles, videos, demonstrations and commentaries.
Not because the challenge itself is especially difficult.
But because it opens the door to dozens of much bigger questions.
Questions about Excel.
Questions about spreadsheet development.
Questions about business.
Questions about competence.
Questions about management.
And ultimately, questions about what employers actually value.
Those questions are rarely explored on social media.
One obvious question is…
What does spreadsheet competence actually mean?
Does it mean producing technically brilliant formulas?
Does it mean demonstrating the latest Excel features?
Does it mean writing solutions that impress other Excel experts?
Or does it mean producing something that genuinely solves a business problem?
Those are not necessarily the same thing.
Another question is…
Who decides whether a spreadsheet is good?
The spreadsheet author?
The Excel community?
The trainer?
The examiner?
The recruiter?
Or the manager who simply needs tomorrow’s problem solved before nine o’clock?
Again, those answers are often very different.
Then there is explainability.
Should every spreadsheet be easy for somebody else to understand?
Should transparency always take priority over elegance?
When is simplicity more valuable than cleverness?
When is cleverness simply unnecessary?
There are recruitment questions too.
Many organisations recruit people based on skills that are easy to recognise.
Specific functions.
Specific tools.
Specific qualifications.
Specific buzzwords.
But are those really the capabilities that determine success inside a business?
Or are they simply the capabilities that are easiest to recruit?
That distinction matters.
Because they are not the same thing.
One of the themes running throughout this collection is something I have encountered repeatedly during my own consulting career.
There is often a surprising gap between what management believe they need…
…and what they actually value once they have seen it.
The recruitment process rarely identifies that difference.
In many cases it cannot.
My Gordon Ramsay Experiment explores exactly that question.
The WSP annual budgeting project demonstrated it in spectacular fashion.
The individual recruited to do the job was not recruited for the approach that ultimately saved the project.
Nobody knew to ask for it.
Nobody expected it.
Yet once it appeared, it became obvious why it was the preferred solution.
That raises an uncomfortable question.
How many exceptional capabilities are organisations simply unable to recruit because they don’t yet know they exist?
Elen’s Footballer Challenge also provides a fascinating way of examining the ICAEW Spreadsheet Competency Framework.
What does “fit for purpose” really mean?
Purpose for whom?
The spreadsheet developer?
The reviewer?
The finance department?
The business?
Or the organisation as a whole?
Those distinctions become surprisingly important.
Perhaps the biggest theme of all, however, is thought leadership.
Or perhaps the lack of it.
Social media is full of strong opinions.
Excel versus Python.
VBA versus Office Scripts.
Power Query versus formulas.
AI versus everything.
Planning systems versus spreadsheets.
Excel is dead.
Excel is dangerous.
Excel is a toy.
Every week there is another headline.
But what often follows is disappointing.
A statement is made.
People comment.
Counterarguments appear.
Interesting questions emerge.
Then…
Nothing.
The conversation simply stops.
The original poster disappears.
The deeper questions remain unexplored.
Many posts are really promotions rather than investigations.
Marketing rather than enquiry.
Advocacy rather than curiosity.
The objective is not to discover where the truth leads.
It is to reinforce the original message.
That is a missed opportunity.
Because almost every spreadsheet challenge contains dozens of interesting conversations waiting to happen.
This collection is my attempt to have those conversations.
Not to prove that one technique is always right.
Not to argue that Excel is always the answer.
But to use real spreadsheet challenges as starting points for exploring the wider questions they expose.
Questions about competence.
Questions about architecture.
Questions about business.
Questions about management.
Questions about software.
Questions about recruitment.
Questions about education.
Questions about what really creates value.
Elen’s Footballer Challenge happens to be an excellent place to begin.
Because once you start looking beyond the formulas…
…you discover it isn’t really about footballers at all.
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