Elegance in Excel
Principles and Methods
"Excel has a way of exposing our thought process to the public; it can make us look great or terrible. This calls for a strategy to use it for the right reasons, as the right tool and in the best way to achieve the desired result of understanding...."
Visit Amazon for a preview or to order the book in paperback or Kindle. In the book is a coupon for $50 download credit in our store.
Click here for free downloads.
A vision of where we'd like to go...
intuitive input and output with simple, elegant formatting
reduce ambiguity for more realistic, accountable plans
have some fun while learning techniques
intuitive input and output with simple, elegant formatting
And where we've been...
If you're frustrated with spreadsheets that are hard to grasp, opaque or just plain ugly, you're not alone, and help is here. At xlegant we take a principles-based approach to workbook design, focusing on four key principles.
Purpose: every work must have an object – a customer, a consumer, a reader, a patron, a fan. Product specifications are just the surface. The real fulfillment is in the discovery and realization of implicit needs and desires, high among them the need to understand and to be understood.
Integrity: the taking of pride in one’s work is one of the rare virtuous “takes”, like taking responsibility. Integrity is like the unseen welds on the beams that hold up the bridge. It is what you do right without being asked or asking for return, because it is right.
Transparency: openness and honesty in communications is more than not misleading nor omitting truth. It is anticipating and preempting doubt, confusion and mistrust. It’s presenting options and revealing details with clean and concise language and format.
Elegance: the union of science and art is one of life’s greatest goals. Elegance as a principle holds strength and beauty equally necessary. It connects process and product, giving them both value. It connects producer and consumer, giving them mutual appreciation.
These principles are as old and universal as nature itself. Excel is a fertile medium to nurture them.
​
xlegant IS...
-
a belief that principles are desirable and attainable in Excel (and in general)
-
a vision of self-governing spreadsheet authors
-
a place to share ideas and questions about elegant design
-
a blog of concepts, tips, tricks, explanations
-
a collection of workbook offerings exemplifying the principles
-
a book, Create Elegant Spreadsheets, explaining the principles and applications
​
xlegant IS NOT comprehensive Excel training but IS an excellent complement to how-to learning.
​
​