I am clearly a new car owner, because until a few days ago I had no idea that I have to perform an annual New York State safety inspection. If I don’t, I could face fines, and will also not be able to renew my car registration.
Interestingly enough, learning this actually made me happy, despite the hassle of spending time out of my day to get the car inspected, because it meant that everyone else is subject to the same rigorous procedures.
Not only do all individual car owners benefit from this, but everyone else benefits as well because it reduces the number of accidents and injuries.
So why is there nothing like this in Excel?!?
To be fair, I believe it would be quite an overreach for some regulatory agency to swoop in and require quality control over your private spreadsheets.
Having said that, instead of an annual safety inspection, perhaps a self-directed annual CLARITY inspection could be a positive thing.
How many times have you received a spreadsheet from a colleague or a client, and had no idea what you were looking at?
Sadly, it happens to me all the time.
The number one step we can take to address this issue?
Labels!
Use comprehensive and succinct labels for everything in your spreadsheet. For example:
- Sheet names
- Headers for all your columns in your data tables
- Labels next to complex formulas
And the list goes on and on.
Even if you don’t plan on sharing your spreadsheet with anyone, using labels will help your future self understand what you were doing.
Plus, once you develop the habit it takes almost no time or effort, and has a huge payoff down the road.
Looking for another pair of eyes to check the clarity of your spreadsheets? Comment with “clarity inspection” and we can get the clarity ball rolling.