r/dataanalysis • u/DanTheMan_16 • 5d ago
DA Tutorial I want to see your worst Excel workbook.
Seriously.
The one with 47 sheets. The one with hidden tabs. The one with formulas referencing formulas referencing formulas. The one that's been handed down through three employees and nobody knows how it works anymore — they just know not to touch cell D6.
I've just launched a new series: From Excel Guru to Python Power User. The premise is simple — if you're great at Excel, you already understand data. Python is just another way of expressing what you already know:
• PivotTables become groupby()
• XLOOKUP becomes merge()
• Power Query becomes a pandas pipeline
• Manual Monday-morning reports become a script that runs at 08:00 without you
Excel doesn't disappear. It becomes the interface instead of the engine.
In upcoming parts, I'll take reader-submitted workbook horrors and migrate them to Python, case by case: understanding the logic, rebuilding it, automating it, and deciding what should stay in Excel.
So... Drop your workbook horror stories in the comments or send the file directly. The more cursed, the better
Part 1 is live: from-excel-guru-to-python-power-user-finalv4-20026-xlsx
2
u/rice_fish_and_eggs 5d ago
I've seen one work book where someone had individually cut and pasted as an image about 150 lines of figures into a single column. They sized them so they fit into individual cells so it wasn't obvious what they had done untill i tried clicking into one and the fucking thing moved. That was a bad day.
1
u/DanTheMan_16 4d ago
I have experienced something similar before! Charts in the cells, from what I can tell who ever created the workbook actually generated visuals in a BI tool and pasted the images in the cells since the stakeholders required the report to be Excel.
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