This is a podcast by Hiran de Silva. Narrated by Charlie.
Another YouTube video on XLOOKUP has caught my attention—Mark Proctor’s latest instalment, a follow-up to one from two weeks ago. It’s an excellent demonstration of XLOOKUP, no doubt about it, but it also serves as a stark reminder of an undeniable truth: almost everything on social media about Excel is aimed at the bottom of the pyramid.
The Bottom of the Pyramid
Let’s be clear—this isn’t a criticism. The bottom of the pyramid represents the largest audience: beginner and intermediate users looking for quick, simple solutions to common Excel problems. Techniques like VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and basic list matching are staples of this level, and they play an essential role in empowering people to work efficiently in their day-to-day tasks.
But here’s the thing: these techniques don’t scale.
Moving Up the Pyramid
As you progress up the pyramid—where the stakes are higher, the data is more complex, and collaboration becomes critical—these same techniques quickly fall apart. They aren’t built to handle enterprise processes, centralized data management, or the dynamic, interconnected needs of large organizations.
Let’s take the example of matching two lists. At the bottom of the pyramid, this is a straightforward task. You can throw in an XLOOKUP or a quick formula and get the job done. But as soon as you introduce:
- Multiple data sources,
- Real-time updates, or
- Collaborative environments,
…this approach collapses. Why? Because it wasn’t designed for these scenarios. Trying to force single-user techniques into an enterprise setting creates chaos—what I call the swamp.
The Swamp: Where Techniques Go to Die
The swamp is the messy middle ground between single-user Excel solutions and enterprise-grade processes. It’s where well-meaning attempts to scale basic techniques lead to unmanageable complexity:
- Duplicated efforts,
- Version control nightmares, and
- Inefficient manual workarounds.
This isn’t a failure of tools like XLOOKUP—it’s a failure of applying the wrong solution to the wrong problem.
Tripling Your Pay by Escaping the Swamp
The solution isn’t about abandoning Excel; it’s about rethinking how you use it. The way out of the swamp is to embrace professional Excel practices—methods that scale, integrate, and automate. Moving up the pyramid doesn’t mean abandoning simplicity; it means finding elegant, robust solutions that can handle complexity without falling apart.
Here’s where the real opportunity lies: by mastering these professional approaches, you can:
- Solve problems that overwhelm others,
- Add exponential value to your organization, and
- Command higher pay as a result.
In fact, this concept underpins my idea of “Tripling Your Pay with Excel.” It’s not about working harder; it’s about leveraging Excel in smarter, enterprise-ready ways that go far beyond what’s taught at the bottom of the pyramid.
Kicking Off the Series
This article is the first in a multi-part series exploring how popular Excel techniques—like XLOOKUP and list matching—need to evolve as you move up the pyramid. In future parts, we’ll dissect specific examples and show how to transform swampy processes into streamlined, scalable solutions.
Mark Proctor’s XLOOKUP video is an excellent starting point for this conversation. It’s simple, effective, and perfect for its audience. But as we’ll see, climbing the pyramid requires a different approach entirely.
This is a podcast by Hiran de Silva. Narrated by Charlie.
REF: XLOOKUP 01
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