If your spreadsheet has a column labelled "name," you're probably doing it all wrong, Phillip Smith writes in an exhaustive post on the PBS Idea Lab: "How often have I stared in dismay, dumbfounded even, and grumbled to myself, 'You didn't really put all of that into one column, did you!?'" Smith explains what's wrong with that, and how it ought to be done, He also lists principles to keep in mind when building spreadsheets, and best practices for working with them.
March 4, 2013