(And It Was Obsolete the Day It Arrived)
By Hiran de Silva
Let me explain what I mean by obsolete, because I know that statement raises eyebrows.
At the time Power Query was introduced, Excel already had a more powerful, more scalable, more enterprise-grade way of working.
Not the same way.
A better way — depending on who you work for.
That distinction matters.
The Three Columns Nobody Talks About
Before social media, before YouTube influencers, before “modern Excel” branding, Excel knowledge evolved in three very different directions:
Column 1 — Spreadsheet Operators
- Single workbook
- Single user
- Manual processes
- Inside-the-box thinking
- “Excel as paper”
Perfectly valid for small, ad-hoc tasks.
Column 2 — Social-Media Excel
- Power Query
- Dynamic Arrays
- XLOOKUP
- LAMBDA
- Visually impressive
- Highly teachable
- Highly clickable
This is the Excel you see everywhere online.
Column 3 — Enterprise Excel (The Hidden One)
- Data outside the workbook
- Client–server architecture
- Hub-and-spoke models
- Separation of data and presentation
- Automation
- Governance
- Scale
- Unattended processes
This is the Excel used — quietly — by people who answer to the boss’s boss.
And this third column existed long before Power Query.
Why Power Query Is “Obsolete” (In Context)
Power Query is not bad.
It’s not useless.
It’s just aimed at Column 2.
But Column 3 already solved the problem Power Query claims to solve — and solved it properly.
Power Query:
- Pulls data into Excel
- Encourages batch refresh
- Embeds the data model in the workbook
- Breaks at scale
- Becomes fragile when entities or periods change
Enterprise Excel:
- Leaves data where it belongs
- Treats Excel as a client, not a container
- Supports live GET/PUT logic
- Handles new entities and periods without redesign
- Works with or without user presence
So yes — for enterprise outcomes, Power Query arrived late to a solved problem.
That is what “obsolete” means here.
What Social Media Changed (And Why This Matters)
Before social media, Excel innovation was driven by:
- Finance leaders
- Controllers
- Enterprise architects
- People accountable for outcomes
After social media, Excel learning is driven by:
- Clickability
- Visual appeal
- Personal branding
- Algorithms
The people now deciding what you should learn have never carried enterprise accountability.
They have never:
- Owned a consolidation process
- Faced a CFO review deadline
- Been responsible for system failure
- Had to make Excel work at scale
They are content creators, not system designers.
The Great Misdirection
Take posts like the recent one by Christopher T. Fennell, listing:
- Power Query
- Dynamic Arrays
- XLOOKUP
- LAMBDA
…as the skills required to consolidate 1,200 files.
That list creates a new Column 2 — one that senior management has already rejected.
Why?
Because management doesn’t want:
- Bigger spreadsheets
- Smarter formulas
- Cleverer workarounds
They want:
- Control
- Reliability
- Auditability
- Scalability
So when Excel can’t deliver those because it’s being used incorrectly, vendors step in and say:
“See? Excel can’t do this.”
Then they sell you Excel replacement software — demonstrating the hub-and-spoke architecture Excel already had.
The Absurd Outcome
We just celebrated 40 years of Excel.
And yet:
- No celebration of enterprise Excel architecture
- No books on modern client-server Excel
- No mainstream teaching of GET/PUT models
- No mention of database-backed Excel workflows
It’s as if an entire world of Excel never existed.
Why This Is an Open Goal
Here’s the part most people miss.
If you demonstrate one real enterprise Excel solution — just one —
to a CFO or finance director, the reaction is always the same:
“Why aren’t we doing it this way?”
No debate.
No resistance.
No confusion.
Just:
- “How long can you stay?”
- “What do we need to pay you?”
- “Can you fix the rest?”
I’ve seen this repeatedly — including cases where my pay was tripled to keep me on.
Not because I was clever.
Because the solution matched what management actually needs.
The Final Question
If your ultimate goal is career progression, ask yourself:
Who decides your future?
- Social media influencers?
- Or your boss — and your boss’s boss?
Because those two audiences want very different Excel.
And the Excel that truly scales — the Excel that delivers enterprise outcomes —
was already there.
Power Query didn’t replace it.
It just distracted everyone from it.
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