Stories: So What?

I read an article quite a while ago about the power of stories, but I'm not convinced.  The article is here: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121218213227-101213441-is-our-hunger-for-story-a-bug-in-our-brain  In response to this article, here's my two cents. 

I, for one, dislike stories.  Maybe I've just been exposed to too many of the bad stories, but I think they are dangerous.  I want data, statistics, evidence, etc., and tend to believe that one anecdotal story cannot be used to describe the whole picture or initiate change.  In fact, stories can and often are the tale of an "exception", leading people to believe they are the "rule", thus creating a mentality that is poisonous to one's purpose or goals.  I understand the power of stories, and acknowledge that they can be used as good examples to support data or an initiative; but they should not be used alone.  Unchecked by data and reality, stories can run wild.  Just because so-and-so did this amazing thing there, doesn't mean you can re-create it here.  The worst is when somebody tries to contradict me with an anecdote, to which I respond by asking them to show me the data.  If the anecdote is representative of 1% of the occurences, then it may need to be addressed, but it is not a sky-is-falling scenario like the storyteller makes it out to be.  Storytellers can twist the truth and make people believe in false cause and effect relationships.  Many bad storytellers blab on and on and on, and at the end of their story, you either want to ask, "So what?" or "Why?" and they have an answer to neither; these storytellers don't have a point and just like to talk and be acknowledged or validated.  

What the (Maker) World Needs Now

Is Love.  Newbie Love.  It's the only thing that there's just too little of.  

I've been involved on a pretty remotely basis in the maker world for a couple years; knowing about events, visiting little shows, taking TechShop classes, and even trying a few times to make something myself with tools outside my comfort zone.  Many of my friends and family have seen me build things like headboards and hamper benches, and create presents like glass etched ornaments, and they probably see me as more creative and wacky than most people they know.  Yet to me, I have barely skimmed the surface of what it is to be a maker, and in some ways am paralyzed by the overwhelming slurry of things to learn and what to do first and who to talk to.  I envy the people with a single passion, because they know what they want and can throw themselves into it.  I have such an eclectic variety of interests that I tend to lack focus and accomplish nothing while I aspire to do so much. 

    

Within the context of that background, here is my perspective on the maker world today. 

1. The maker community is strong and vibrant, especially in major hubs like San Fran and Orange County, but even here in the Phoenix area.  
2.  There are lots of hackerspaces, fab labs and makerspaces open and available to the public.  You don't need to own a single tool to make something amazing.
3. New makers tend to be paralyzed by the unknown, the overplanning and the fear of looking stupid. 
4. There is a lot of advice out there (books, lectures, articles, you name it) saying that the best thing to do is just start.  This is really key to the move from dreamer to maker; if you know what you want to do, just start. 
5. There are a lot of entrepreneurial resources available, if you know where to look. 
6. Dreamers have a lot of ideas, and technology is enabling all of us to come out with new ideas, vet them out, and experiment without ever pouring money into them.
7. Websites like etsy enable a global marketplace to purchase homemade products.

All of this spells out a fantastic, nearly ideal, environment for makers, and its only getting better.  However, there are some pretty big hurdles to overcome as a new maker, and I think there are things the maker community could do better to ease those hurdles and create more makers (which is good for everybody).  Here are the hurdles I see, and how to address them:
#1:  More (or ANY) Marketing!!
In a world in which we're practically inundated with advertisements, I see next to nothing promoting makerspaces, hackerspaces, fab labs, co-working spaces or MakerFaires.  I travelled to San Fran to visit TechShop a couple years ago; they had three facilities in the area and were well established, yet I met tinkerers at the local breweries that had never heard of TechShop.  Most people I talk to in Arizona haven't heard of TechShop, either, which is less surprising I suppose because they are new, but they should have made a big deal about their national chain opening a place in Arizona.  When Ikea opened, people were literally camping outside for days to be the first to enter the new store.  When In-n-Out opened in Tucson, there was a five hour wait in the drive-thru line; Tucsonians could literally drive to Phoenix, buy the In-n-Out there which had only a normal line, drive home, and eat their food before getting through the line at Tucson.  I'm picking on TechShop a bit here, but it's the tough love kind of picking on:  I wrote countless emails begging them to give me more information about the opening, with the promise that I would help promote the heck out of it.  Yet I first learned it was open when I just so happened to visit their website one day to check on the status.  I'm on the subscriber list of their newsletters, and I didn't even see the Chandler opening announced in those.  Come on guys, you could do better.  I know marketing isn't one of the typical primary strengths of inventors and tinkerers, so hire someone to do it for you if needed.  Heck, I'd do it part-time in exchange for a free membership, and still do a better job. 

TechShop aside, I think all of the events and various spaces could and really SHOULD do a better job in this department.  When there's a hot new chain restaurant in town, the earliest people to go in are the people who are familiar with it from another location.  Many more people will hear about it four or five times from various people before going in themselves.   Recommendations from multiple sources make the unfamiliar less daunting, and gives people assurance that it will be a good experience.  But let's say someone heard of HeatSync or Gangplank just once, and thought it was a cool concept and wanted to check it out, if they don't hear about it again, you've probably lost them. 

To me, all of these places exist in a secret underworld that I am privy to the knowledge of.  That's not the right place to be.  To foster and grow the Maker community, we need Making to be a normal activity.  Maybe not as everyday as grocery shopping, but certainly as common as going to a football game or musical.  It needs to be something that people are aware of, so that people who take interest in making will actually get up and go.

#2:  Make Your Own _______  Workshops
A lot of people are crafty in nature, but need ideas and support to do the "doing".  These are perhaps not the target audience to transform into makers, but I think a subset of them are wanna-be makers paralyzed in the first stages of starting, and this would offer a comfortable environment to bloom in.  Look at As You Wish, which is more of a commercialized, formulated making process, but is so mainstream I'd guess that everyone around knows what they are.  They have strategic placing near movie theaters, and the window displays are so fun, relevant and inviting that it gets people going in.  People know that if they want to make a ceramic dish or ornament, they can go there and do it with confidence.  I've taken glass blowing workshops in which we made flowers and Christmas ornaments.  They were short time commitments, just a couple hours, and had a definitive end result: a piece of glass art that I created that can be picked up in a day or two after it cools down.  I think that is the key to drawing in a greater population, and some of those will "stick" and become truly independent makers, freed from the initial paralyzing move and armed with confidence, contacts and a tiny bit of know-how. 

  

#3:  Formalized Volunteer Mentoring Programs
Let's walk a day in the life of a wanna-be maker: she heard about a cool hackerspace, has a basic understanding of what materials could be manipulated with which tools, and perhaps has done some crafty projects at home or at a workshop.  She still has no idea what project to dive into, but wants to dive into something.  She walks into the hackerspace she heard about, and nobody looks up.  There is no front desk to sign into or ask for help, and there are no clear directions.  There are groups of people working on various things together, and their energy is exciting, but she does not want to interrupt them.  She looks in awe at a Makerbot whizzing away on a part, but doesn't want to linger too long.  She assumes she should sit and work on something, and maybe someone will come talk to her.  So she finds an empty chair and sets up her laptop, and starts programming, or attempting to anyways.  She's stuck.  She continues to look around and nobody even seems to know she's there.  An hour goes by.  She packs up and leaves.  Where was that collaborative maker community?  What was it that she was supposed to do?  How can she get involved?  She thought she would find these questions by coming, and now they are even bigger question marks.  This was me not too long ago, and it might have turned me off completely if I wasn't so freaking determined to get out of my job any way possible. 

Now let's imagine a mentor or leader was there on her first day.  She walks in, and the leader was working on something, but sees her as a new face and hops over to greet her.  He asks her what she is interested in doing, and she explains little bit of her skill set but that she has no specific project in mind and would like to help.  He says that's great, and introduces her to a mentor who is working on a project.  The mentor then explains his project and what's left to be done on it, and asks if she would be interested in helping.  She is excited, and accepts, and he starts going over the project in more detail, and then shows her what he's working on next.  They spend an hour or two together, then he asks her if she would be willing to attend an upcoming class or do some research on a particular subject that will be needed for the next phase.  She agrees, and now has something to focus on that is contributing to someone else's project.  Her hands-on experience will help her start her own project soon after, and she eventually becomes a mentor herself. 

It doesn't have to be a grandiose system; in fact it would be silly for such a thing to exist in the Maker world, what with its grass-roots hacking kind of culture.  But I think there should be someone who greets newbies, and helps them get going in the right direction.  And there should be a list somewhere of mentors around the shop that are willing to take someone on.  And I think all of this should be free.  Some places have Dream Coaches or Dream Consultants that are paid to walk you through the steps of your project, and those are fantastic for the right application, but that shouldn't be the only means of gaining supervised experienced. 

#4 Maker Showcases
There are art galleries and craft fairs today, but they hold a kind of folksy feel to them.  And yes, I know there are MakerFaires and MiniMakerFaires, but those are big blowout type events and only happen once a year in a given location.  Maybe I need to go to a few to know for sure, but I think there's something missing that is somewhere in between craft fairs and MakerFaires, and perhaps it does exist but I don't know about it therefore it has failed in my #1 issue and thus doesn't exist to me.  It can be a bit like an open house from gradeschool, where the parents come in and see what the students have done so far.  Or like a science fair or robot competition.  There were these cool opportunities for some kids growing up, and I wish I had more of those opportunities myself, but once we become adults those things seem to disappear.  I would love to have a showcase that ran every night for a week, where all the makers who wanted to participate could show off their projects, in whatever state they are in, and people could come and talk with them and learn more.  It would be a great way for my family to come visit and see what I'm up to, as well as to inspire dreamers to become new makers.  It's a local thing, not a giant convention, and it's more tech-driven than a craft fair.

#5 Full Circle Processes
One of the fabulous classes I took at TechShop during my San Fran trip was the injection molding class.  We each got a turn to load the plastic beads, and shoot the mold full of hot, gooey plastic and see the results in the form of a cute little plastic gear emulating TechShop's logo.  However, I learned in the class that making a mold is really complex, and I knew from past entrepreneurial aspirations that having a mold made is quite expensive, to the tune of $2000 or more.  What I felt was missing, and still to this day, was a mold design class.  I mean, we have all of these neat CNC machines and 3D printers, why no teach us proper mold design so that we can put them to use to make our own molds, and then allow us to cast or use injection molding from that?  What's more, I've had a terribly difficult time finding resources or classes on moldmaking, and so I've made it a personal goal to learn everything I can from the limited resources that exist.  And I think this speaks to a greater problem, that we have all of these individual tools but there isn't a lot of coherent connections between each skill. I'm sure I have long since forgotten how to use the injection molding machine, but even if I practiced for weeks with that cute little gear mold, it wouldn't help me make anything else. 


All in all, I see the Maker world teeming with potential, but it is still an underground, secret society to most people.  That intimidation paired with the how-to-start paralyzing effect on wanna-be's will probably keep it that way.  And maybe that's what they want, deep down; maybe they want a community comprised only of die-hards who were persistent enough to break through those barriers.  But my guess is that they want the community to grow, to be more accessible, the excite and inspire more people who are not as persistent, and I think the major steps above would get them(/us?) there. 

On New Year's Resolutions, and Mine for 2014

2014 has kicked off (pun intended - read on) with a terrific start for me.  On New Year's Day, Jaiman and I scored tickets from his awesome aunt to the Fiesta Bowl.  Before the game, Jaiman had his first ever half yard of beer at Yard House.  It was a really good football game, and we got free Tostitos chips and salsa out of the deal.  Last night, we went to Jonathan Lindsey's swing dance class and learned the Tranky Doo, which is a choreographed dance that Jaiman and I have wanted to learn for a while; I had my first lesson the week prior, but Jaiman couldn't make it to that last week, so this was his first and my second lesson.  Afterwards, I finally got the courage to slice open a pomegranate (I have bought several in the past, only to let them go stale before I attempted to eat them).  It was as messy as I had hoped, my hands were sticky, my face was covered, the plate looked like a trainwreck and there were jumpy seeds all over the couch.  I enjoyed it all.  

All this excitement the first two days in to the new year started to make me think, "Wow, could I do something extraordinary every day this year?"  And that got me to thinking about New Year's resolutions.  A lot of people will come up with resolutions like, "Do something that scares you every day," or "Try something new every day," and while those are terrific sentiments, I think it would be hard to stick to them.  And New Year's resolutions are known for their lack of stick-to-it-ness.  

Furthermore, evaluating what I've already done in 2014, I can't say that my year has started off with something terribly new or terribly scary.  None of that scared me, and I can't imagine enjoying 365 things that would scare me, because I'm not easily embarrassed or made nervous.    So things that scare me would be like falling off a cliff with no harness, or being robbed, neither of which sound like any fun.  And while it was my first bowl game, I've been to so many football games before, the Fiesta Bowl hardly felt like a "new" experience.  Plus, I've done a lot of cool things already, and it seems like a self-defeating task to come up with something "new" to do every day.  I mean, after you've tried every exotic fruit you could find, learned every dance known to your local dance instructors, tried painting and sculpting in every medium possible, eventually you're bound to run out of cool new things to do, and might resort to cutting your own hair or super gluing your toes together to see what it's like to swimming with webbed feet.  No, I don't want to challenge myself to do something new every day.  Even if I could do it without webbed feet or other self-destructive results, it sounds like a lot of effort, and I'm really very lazy.  

What's worse, I am a very goal-oriented person, and have set some pretty ambitious goals in years past, many of which were not obtained. Part of the problem, I think, has been a lack of focus: my goals are so varied that it's hard to remember to accomplish them all.  As goal-oriented as I am, I haven't made a habit out of revisiting my goals often enough to actually keep the focus.  Another part of the problem is just the sheer number of them.  I mean, a year seems like a long time on January 1st.  But come October, with more than 50% of my goals unmet, and the nearing holidays and bad weather, some of those goals become practically impossible, if not financially difficult.  And finally, part of the problem is that my priorities change as the year goes on, and some of the goals become irrelevant. 

So instead, I am considering a New Year's resolution along the lines of what I have done.  I searched for the right word to go in the blank of "Do something ______ every day," and came up with noteworthy.  I thought about saying pictureworthy, because this world loves visuals and pictures are worth a thousand words.  It would have worked retroactively, because I did take pictures of the Fiesta Bowl and my pomegranate, and I took video of the Tranky Doo lesson.  However, I am sure that some of the things I aspire to do will be difficult or awkward to photograph, and I don't want the lack of a picture to detract from a great thing.  So I'm going with noteworthy.  

Do Something Noteworthy Everyday

The mantra I recently came up with for myself, kind of a mission statement for my life, is: 

Grow.  Achieve.  Inspire.  Enjoy.

So applying my New Year's resolution, I want my noteworthy something to fit into one of those categories.  

"Grow" would be anything that improved myself.  Of course, losing weight is as big a priority as ever for me, so every day I will be working on shrinking too.  But sticking to my diet is a necessity, not a noteworthy activity, so my "Grow" somethings will have to be more like practicing a new dance or reading part of a good book.  It can be little, because one cannot be expected to complete a substantial task or master something new in a day, every day, so "Grow" is all about moving in a direction.  

"Achieve" is the more tangible mastery or completion of something; a box I can definitively check as complete.  It will be made up of life list things, as well as hikes, races, competitions and the like.  While "Grow" and "Achieve" are all self-motivated things, 

"Inspire" goes beyond my internal self-improvement and reaches out to others.  I want to encourage and empower kids, friends, peers, and strangers to improve themselves as well.  

Finally, "Enjoy" is my allowance to indulge; not every day has to be productive to live a good life.  In fact, sometimes you need a break from checklists and mentally draining efforts.  But, I never feel good after sitting on the couch and watching TV.  I might think I'm enjoying myself, but that is not noteworthy, so that doesn't count.  

I think the synergy between my new life mission statement and my New Year's resolution strengthens each idea.  Every day I will do something noteworthy that is either for personal growth and achievement, an inspiration to others, or for the enjoyment of the extraordinary things that life has to offer, while focusing on shrinking.  It's still daunting, but the doable kind; I can decide what I want to do every day, without needing to refer back to a list (although I can have a list in case I need my own inspiration).  Certainly, there is something noteworthy to be done every day of 2014, and through those things, I will grow, achieve, inspire and enjoy.  

If this has inspired you, please make a note of it in the comment section or direct message me on Twitter at @Lowa84!

Obligatory 2013 Reflections

My 2013 started off with a lot of emotional pain, reeling from a recent breakup.  Fast forward to today, and short of being homeless or a billionaire, my life couldn't be more different.  I have a "new" boyfriend, the relationship is 7 months strong so it's hardly new, but he's different than the selfish child of a man I was pining over at the end of 2012.  I have a new job (finally) that is fulfilling and makes me feel valuable, plus gives me lots of opportunities and perks.  I make good money, I've done cool things, and I have big plans for 2014.  In short, it's a good time to be me, and I am so thankful for where I am now.  I think it's a good time to indulge myself and reflect on the path that got me through those difficult times to being happier than ever before.  

After a few rough dates with total wackos, and a memorable night with an old friend, I recommitted myself to a few things like hiking and dancing and writing.  At one point, I wrote on Helium.com where I could make a little bit of money, but it required me to keep up with a rating system that took constant attention.  It eventually turned me off, and I practically stopped writing except for myself when I needed clarity.  But I always found benefit in writing for a forum where others could read it - nobody had to read it mind you, just that there was a possibility of others reading it.  So I started this long-overdue blog, and I've been so glad I did ever since.  I may not be making money off of it, but it gives me something I own that is entirely me, which is perhaps even more exciting than the value I got out of Helium, where my writing was limited to certain topics and restricted by their writing requirements.  

I saw a rocket launch into space.  Specifically, I was surprised by and then suspicious of an invitation from NASA to join their NASA Social event to see the SpaceX CR-2 launch of the Dragon to resupply the International Space Station.  While I've always been mildly interested in space, the breathtaking experience has made me more of a fanatic for space travel before.  It inspired me to apply to the MarsOne mission to colonize the Red Planet (which I recently found out I was turned down for).  

In diving back into swing dancing, I got to play out a relationship that had previously only existed in fantasy, with R.  It was in some ways better than I imagined it, and in some ways much worse, and I knew the relationship didn't stand a chance. R taught me, more than anything else, how to be a good follow in swing dancing, and I will always owe him that.  And he only would have spent so much time with me if we were in the relationship we were in.  But the relationship sucked, and I was relieved when it was over.  

Having nobody in my house at the time, I opened up my house to out-of-town guests for swing dance workshops, and found some new friends from San Diego who were excellent balboa dancers.  My house turned out to be a very convenient location for the various dances and workshops, and I wasn't using the room anyways.  While my relationship with them has not blossomed much, I think I will always have a special balboa partner, which is nice since balboa is a dance style new to me and very challenging.  

One of the most significant changes in my life came at a swing dance workshop.  I felt a special affinity for Jaiman before the workshop even started, before we even bothered to introduce ourselves.  Maybe it was that compelling feeling I have when someone likes me, because I now know he was checking me out.  Or maybe it's just one of those things that were just meant to be, and you know it when you see it.  Either way, Jaiman and I hit if off in the workshop, and we danced several times together at Kat's Korner's 50's Prom that night.  Our relationship escalated quickly and blossomed into a fulfilling relationship like I've never quite had before.  

I don't think Jaiman quite understands how or why he completes me, and I'm not quite sure I've completely nailed it either.  What I have discerned is that he is very knowledgeable and excited about some of the things I want to be involved with.  Football is perhaps the best example.  I've long wanted to have a boyfriend or even a close friend that loves sports, and especially football, so that it would keep me motivated to follow the sport, learn the names and characteristics of the players, and watch games with.  With all my various interests that I pursue on whims that come and go, it's hard to stay focused on football through the entire season without external forces.  Thus, this past season, I knew more about my ASU Sun Devils, went to more games, watched, listened or at least tracked the games I couldn't be at, and understood more about the rankings and the strategy involved.  In short, this was my favorite football season ever, and it was largely fueled by Jaiman's enthusiasm for the sport.  Prior to our relationship, he mostly watched NFL, and he still does, and I don't mind watching it with him, but he got really involved in the college football scene with me this year.  Some of my favorite pictures of us are at the games, decked out in ASU gear with eyeblack and all.  We have nicknames for our favorite quarterback, we know some of the defensive and offensive leaders, and get excited when those players make big plays.  I've never been this involved in a season before, and it's definitely been fulfilling.  

Jaiman and I have found that we love trying new and exotic foods together; we bring out a foodie characteristic that neither of us had or knew we had before.  Jaiman shares my enthusiasm for traveling and trying new things, so he indulged me by taking surfing lessons for my birthday and touring SpacePort in October.  A couple of his biggest passions are Disney and roller coasters, both of which I've been reminded that I enjoy.  Before we started dating, it had been years since I've visited an amusement park to go on rides, and I had so much fun when Jaiman and I went to Six Flags in California.  We also love watching and re-watching movies, new and old, and playing games, video games and board games, and pampering through pedicures and massages.  He is my best friend, I can do anything with him.  I don't need him to be a genius or a millionaire; he gives me pleasure by helping me enjoy entertainment, food, and life.  He appreciates the adventure and we persevere because we have each other, and that's all we really need.  

My life became markedly better once Jaiman entered it, but I still had a lot of struggles the second half of 2013, especially in my job.  My employer of 6 years had now held the carrot of a promotion out in front of me three too many times, my team's caliber was atrocious and deteriorating, and the colleagues I had to interface with were useless at best and more often than not, complete idiotic jerks.  It's hard for me to express the work conditions that drove me out, because everybody complains about their jobs and feels like they are being screwed.  But what I experienced there was far worse, much more ridiculous, very often illegal, and absolutely unnecessarily bad and wrong in so many ways.  But I was in a weird limbo in my career where most jobs I was qualified for paid much less than what I was making, and the jobs I wanted were mostly managerial jobs which were nearly impossible to attain because I had never managed people.  The obvious career moves would have involved being promoted to manager in the areas I was already familiar with, in the companies who already knew my worth, but those were denied to me.  I had a strong feeling the only "way out" would be to start a company and make it big, and I felt like I could do so safely in my time outside of work while still retaining my paycheck.  I had some good attempts at starting a couple companies, but nothing panned out.  It was looking like I'd be stuck in a miserable work place indefinitely, but at least I had a good boyfriend.

So I was completely blown away when I was offered a job at my new employer, with a salary much higher than I expected from the position, and much higher than I could expect to make waiting around at the same dumb company, matching my vacation allowance which had taken 5 years of loyalty to earn, and had bonus potential on top of it all.  I knew the commute would be a drawback, but honestly, after two full months of working there, the commute is STILL the only drawback I've really seen.  There are a lot of opportunities and challenges, all of which I know I can tackle.  I am confident I can become a leader within my group, which is what I was hired to do, and totally rock their world. And I am excited and motivated to do it because I feel understood and valued like never before in my professional career.  

Yeah, I'm in a good place now.  I am also renting a room out to one of my prior roommates, so that's some additional income, another friend around, and dogsitter for when Jaiman and I adventure out.  With my relationship with Jaiman, I've also found a new family within his family, and I always feel welcomed when celebrating holidays or birthdays with them.  Sadly, I still have the burden of being overweight literally weighing me down, but I don't know how I could have a better environment to work on my weight: a wonderful, supportive relationship, a great work environment (with a nice gym for free), and a happy, comfortable life.  

So 2014 will find us taking more trips, making more memories and going on more crazy adventures.  It will also hopefully find me improving my weight and health.  I intend to do some great things at work and for APICS, and continue blogging on important topics much bigger than myself.  I am excited to see TechShop get going in Chandler, and hope to be a part of their growth.  So many things are looking up for 2014, I can't wait to get started!!  

The Good, The Bad and The Kickass: Expectations of Microsoft Excel 2013

Since I pretty much live in Excel, I get excited by new features that I find useful, and disheartened by oversimplification (read, stupidification) of tools and analysis; it's a very personal thing for me because I work so closely with it.  Computers are very smart, and in a lot of ways smarter than humans, but there are some things that humans can see and do that computers are just not developed enough yet to get; it is for that reason that analysts like myself are empowered by Excel's tools, while people less skilled at Excel and data analysis cannot replicate our work by simply trying to make Excel "go". 

I will really only be able to evaluate Office 365 after it is forced upon me at work and have been working in it for a while, and really, a better evaluation could result from getting used to Office 365 and then having to go back to Office 2007.  I recently made a similar move when I changed companies; I've gotten so good and comfortable in Excel 2007 and my new company currently has Excel 2003, so I'm having to re-learn how to do things in that old format (the menus like File, Edit, Data, and Insert were replaced with ribbons in 2007).  Not only am I having to find where the functions are again, I have a feeling of being handicapped because I try to use the features of 2007 and then realize I can't (filter by color, filter by multiple values with checkboxes), so then I have to find workarounds. 

The good news is that I just discovered my company would be moving forward with Office 365 in the new year, and that means, at a minimum, I should (I hope) regain the functions I have become used to in Excel 2007.  But upon hearing the news, I decided to take a peek into what we can expect in the coming year that goes beyond what I'm familiar with in Excel 2007.  So, without further ado, based on what I've seen and read about Excel 2013, here's my analysis.  

The Good

 

The most immediately useful and intriguing function I noticed is called Flash Fill.  The way Microsoft explains it, it is "like a data assistant that finishes your work for you."  They use vague, colorful terminology to describe it, but what I see it as is like an automatic VLOOKUP, with a twist that the lookup table is inherent in the data and does not exist elsewhere.  That is impressive and exciting for a few reasons: (1) people who suck at or forget how to use VLOOKUP will get immediate benefit, (2) people who are good at VLOOKUP will save time, (3) files can be smaller and less complex by not requiring lookup tables to exist in the files, and (4) where files would have referenced tables on a specific user's computer, those files are less likely to get corrupted or have non-evaluating formulas because the lookup tables are not needed.  It is a bit scary that, from a programmer's perspective, we're no longer in control of or prescribing exactly what the values should be, but exciting if it actually works intelligently.  This does not mean that VLOOKUP is dead, it will definitely have a very important role, but perhaps needed a bit less with the advent of Flash Fill.  Only time will tell how helpful this feature really is.  

"One workbook, one window" shows great insight on Microsoft's part into how users actually deal with multiple workbooks, recognizing the need for ease across multiple monitors and comparing workbooks.  It will be a big time-saver and reduce frustrations with Excel.  This is low-hanging fruit that Microsoft went after and I applaud them for doing so. 

Animation in charts is probably more of a gimmicky thing than anything else, but I still like it a little.  It's very Apple-kind-of-sexy-feeling, and may help real analytics in a small subset of scenarios of which it is used. 

The idea of using multiple tables and relationships may be a good one, but my guess is that most users won't get that deep.  This sounds a little like they're directly attacking Access and integrating its database operations into Excel.  This is going to make Excel more of a monstrosity than it already is, and perhaps push Access towards obsolescence.  Personally, I like the separation of the tools.  Excel is very good at x, y and z, and Access is good when you need more than that.  By blurring the lines, we are looking at Excel becoming much more complex and difficult to follow, bigger less manageable files, and much more technical skills required to be an Excel guru.  And I could just see scenarios all over the place of where you suddenly find that you do actually need Access, and it will probably require a whole restart on relationships and logic and will cause people to miss deadlines.  Still, I'll reserve my judgment and suffice it to say that this could be a nice feature in a pinch, and used on a small scale, will be a helpful time-saver in lieu of a quick VLOOKUP here or there.

Thankfully, Microsoft heard our cry on number format.  In Excel 2007, the ribbon contained a quick way to format numbers as Accounting, but to get Currency you had to go the long way.  This annoyed the frick out of me, and I'm glad to see they have wisened up.  Another good addition is better Conditional Formatting and "Sparklines".  In Excel 2007, Conditional Formatting was cumbersome at best, and wrong at worst.  Assuming this enhanced Conditional Formatting works, it will be a strong analytic tool as well as a nice visualization.  

 

The Bad

PivotTable recommendations make me shudder.  Who are these people who would go to create a PivotTable and not know what summary data they are after?  If I'm dealing with a sales spreadsheet, then I'm going to summarize sales by product grouping and time periods or a salesperson.  If I'm dealing with part counts, then my summary data is going to be a count of the number of parts.  My fear is that this will get in the way of doing real work on PivotTables, and at best it was a waste of development time and effort on Microsoft's part. 

A new file format?  Again?  I haven't encountered anyone saying that they wish their Excel files would save in an ISO8601 date format, yet Microsoft has introduced a new file format to do just that.  If I had been advising Microsoft, I would have told them to steer clear of new file formats, and instead offer, as they rightfully did, a function to convert the dates. 

Microsoft is using their updated save feature to push their cloud storage solutions.  I'm sure they are obligated by marketing to do so, but it's in poor taste in my opinion.  They are being a little Apple-licious and closed-minded.  Most companies already have shared drives or SharePoints and will default to continuing to use those.  It'll be one of those features that is always in the way and in your face but highly ignored. 

I have a few nested formulas that I use on a regular basis, and it would be great if Microsoft created single functions that did what my nested functions do.  So I had to take a peek at what new functions were coming out, and I was wholeheartedly disappointed.  Lots more niche math, trig, statistics and engineering functions have been added, which I feel are just going to convolute the function world.  We need more business stuff, and I'm not talking financial, I'm talking useful.  Nobody in business cares about the hyperbolic cosecant of a complex number.  I get spell check errors just writing the description down!  There are a few nuggets of goodness (with caveats) that I will credit them with:  

• IFNA function - this does replace my nested formula IF(ISNA(... and takes it to a new level of efficiency and simplification.  I initially thought this would be a direct replacement of what I was doing, but upon further examination, it is much better.  See, the downfall of my IF(ISNA(... nested formula was that it invariably contained a complex VLOOKUP as the argument for the ISNA function, and then I had to not only specify what to use if the VLOOKUP evaluated to #N/A, but then I had to repeat (usually by copying and pasting) the VLOOKUP for the "else" part of the IF function.  IFNA does away with that duplication.  Genius!  Just enter the argument to evaluate in as the value, and it will return the value of that argument unless it evaluates to #N/A, in which case it returns your value_if_na.  
• FLOOR.MATH function - this rounds a number down to the nearest number of significance, which is interesting.  CEILING.MATH is the version that rounds up, and is also new to Excel. 
• DAYS function - I thought this already existed, but upon further inspection, it was NETWORKDAYS that I was thinking of.  DAYS gives you the number of days between two dates, while NETWORKDAYS gives you the number of work days between two dates.  Regardless, the ability to calculate the number of days between two dates is already available; just subtract one from the other.  Microsoft's website did not define whether the DAYS function would treat the dates as integers or have a decimal element when working with dates that have time elements.  To make matters worse, NETWORKDAYS uses the syntax (start_date, end_date) while DAYS uses (end_date, start_date).  This is a jarring oversight.  The only redeeming feature of the DAYS function is that it converts date-like strings automatically, whereas without the function you'd have to use DATEVALUE to do so. 
• ARABIC function - I just had to highlight this one because it makes me laugh that its new and that its opposite, ROMAN, has existed and been flying solo at least since 2003.  It makes me think of the Super Bowl, because that's the only time I ever see Roman numbers.  So for those of you who need to figure out what Super Bowl number we're on, you can now get it from Excel 2013.  In other words, =ARABIC(XLVIII) evaluates to 48, but only in the new version of Excel. 
• BASE function - The best way I can explain this is with an example: how do you convert a number to binary?  Binary has a base of 2, so with this new function, you can type in =BASE(7,2) to convert 7 to binary, with the result of 111.  Base 16 would be hexadecimal, but only programmers to my knowledge use that.  That's probably true of binary, too, but at least more people know and understand it. 
• SHEET and SHEETS functions - this is very telling that programming-minded people are demanding more of Excel.  These functions have existed for years in the less-traveled recesses of Excel's Visual Basic macro programming, but are finally being given the light of day in Excel 2013.  An obvious and well-founded move on Microsoft's part. 

Some functions I still have to use nested formulas for are things like what I would call CONTAINS.  You can filter on Contains and Does Not Contain, but you can't create a simple formula to do the same.  I'd like a =CONTAINS(target_cell,search_string) that is true or false, and an =IFCONTAINS(target_cell,search_string,value_if_true,value_if_false).  Today, I have to use a series of IF and FIND functions to do this.  STR or STRING to convert a number to a text format is another idea I see in the programming world that would be well-suited in Excel formulas.  Instead, I use =LEFT(target_cell,40) where 40 is some number of characters much larger than what I anticipate the number of characters actually being. A WEEKOF or STARTOFWEEK function would replace my slightly painful =date_cell-WEEKDAY(date_cell)+2 to get the Monday at the beginning of the week for a given date.  STARTOFMONTH would replace =DATE(YEAR(date_value),MONTH(date_value),1).  There is some possibility that Flash Fill will do some of these, but I'm not positive yet.  I would rather have hard-coded formulas that I know how to operate than have to trust a hokey, artificially intelligent algorithms which I don't understand or have any control over. 

As far as charting, there is one dire chart that still does not and cannot exist in Excel, even with workarounds, and that is one with side-by-side bars with internal stacked groupings.  That is, if I want a chart of all my inventory by category, and see what type of inventory it is (i.e. slow-moving, obsolete, high-runner), I need two or more separate charts, one for the total and one for each category or just type of inventory.  What I want is one chart with vertical bars side-by-side representing the primary grouping, each with the ability to show sub-groupings as stacked bars.  The stacked bars are like making a pie chart out of each major bar.  This type of chart would instantly be a big hit, if they only thought to create it.  Why, Microsoft, can you create intelligent things like Flash Fill but not give us a simple enhancement such as this?  

My rendering of what a bar chart with stacked subgroupings might look like.  In this example, within the "Vegetable" category there might be "Spinach" in dark green and "Carrots" in orange, and within the "Fruit" category there is "Apples" in red and "Bananas" in yellow.  You get both the total from each category as well as the breakdown within each category.

Histograms have been available for several iterations of Excel, and I presume will continue to exist, but hidden in the shadows of the Statistical Analysis feature.  I wish Microsoft would put Histograms as a predominant chart type, because they are so telling and powerful in business.  Until such time, the Histogram will continue to be my secret weapon.

 

The Kickass 

 

We have a new term called Slicers.  Not all users will understand this immediately, but I'm excited about it.  It is a way to "slice" the data, or filter it, probably in chunks rather than individual, painstaking filters.  It sounds like there is some setup to it, which is good news, because this is not something I would want the computers of today to try to guess at for me.  I suspect this will be one of my favorite new features.  Future enhancements will undoubtedly create automatic Slicers, just like we are now seeing automated guesswork done for charts and basic summary data, and I think it's wise to let the users create them first and then build the automation logic based on that. 

What Microsoft's page calls "Richer data labels" I call beautiful.  Having had to go back to Excel 2003 (temporarily, thankfully), I have been constantly reminded of how far we've come with our chart graphics, and this is absolutely the next step.  The look and feel of it is just so right.  It claims that they will stay in place when you switch to different types of charts, which is a relief if you've ever perfected a chart only to have to change one thing and have all your beautiful formatting get reset.  I am stoked to see more beautiful data labels. 

I'm going to return to Flash Fill for a moment, because there is a unique application that goes beyond VLOOKUP-type functionality, and this is perhaps the more ingenious aspect.  It can be used to "Split" a column of data.  Imagine you get an Excel sheet with names in one column, but they are first and last name all in one cell, and you need the first names in one column and the last names in another column.  What I've always done thus far is use some combination of string functions like =LEFT(cell_with_name,FIND(" ",cell_with_name)-1) for the first name and =MID(cell_with_name,FIND(" ",cell_with_name),40) for the last name (which assumed no middle names and thus was incorrect when more than two names were present).  I always thought they would create a formula which would find FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME, but instead, they made it even smarter.  Flash Fill will guess, based on the context of what you start typing in the column one over from the combined names, and if you accept its assistance, does the heavy lifting for you.  Now that is cool.

While Microsoft didn't readily spell it out for me, I'm seeing something called PowerView which is mega enhanced charting.  Finally a better pie chart (and not just the dumb old pie chart in 3D)!  However, this seems to be a premium feature, and does not come with standard Office 365. 

Quick Analysis is another feature I will definitely be playing with.  I don't know exactly all the ins and outs yet, but look for this to help summarize tables of data quickly and easily.  



All in all, I'm excited about what Office 365 brings to my Excel experience.  There is nothing devastatingly different like the transition from menus in Excel 2003 to ribbons in Excel 2007, but certainly a lot of goodness and some annoying things that we'll just have to look beyond. 

TechShop Comes to Chandler, Arizona!

The East Valley is already home to entrepreneurial powerhouse Gangplank and maker heaven HeatSync.  A couple weeks ago, one of the most fascinating companies I've watched over the last several years opened its newest location right here in the Phoenix area.  I had even gone to San Fran to see if it was as amazing as I thought it would be, and it was and so much more.  I wrote about my account here: http://easilythrilled.blogspot.com/2013/02/my-techshop-experience.html

Around the same time, I was so hyped up (and at the time there were no publicly announced plans to come to Arizona), that I started formulating a business case to present to the good people at TechShop in hopes of influencing them to set up shop here.  As part of my research, I issued a survey, but remember that this was long before I understood marketing or social media utilization, so my survey didn't get enough responses to be worthwhile.  However, I am still amazed and excited about the possibilities TechShop brings with it, so I thought I'd spill out some of the benefits I saw back then:

I believe TechShop appeals to several markets in the Phoenix area:
- student organizations can take classes and get hands-on experience with things like injection-molding and prototyping
- professional societies can hold events there to explore fields that the individuals may not otherwise have exposure to
- entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them can utilize the facility for prototyping and low-volume fabrication
- car and motorcycle enthusiasts can design and fabricate custom parts and work on their vehicles with the equipment available
- manufacturing companies can utilize the facility to turn a part quickly instead of having to send it back if something was wrong
- individuals can expand their knowledge base with classes and practice
- engineering courses can utilize the equipment for better fabrication of their projects
- crafters, sewers and quilters will love the quality of sewing and quilting machines available
- architecture courses can utilize the large workspaces to build their projects

The benefits to Phoenix would be:
- entrepreneurs are enabled to start companies and create jobs
- more dreamers can become entrepreneurs
- individuals can enhance their skills and be better prepared for their next job interview
- TechShop provides a unique venue to host company parties and organization events

Now that TechShop is here, I thought I'd add some tidbits and ideas to get you as excited as I am.  

Ideas to get you going

• Getting married?  Consider using the laser cutter to etch a design into champagne glasses instead of paying for the same customization.
• Expecting a grandchild or nephew or niece?  The CNC quilting and sewing machines make it easy to embroider beautiful designs.
• Play board games?  You could actually design and print unique game pieces using the MakerBot II.  
• Need to advertise something in a really BIG way?  TechShop has a huge printer.  Depending on what you need, it may be worthwhile to print your own instead of going to an office store. 

Did you know?

• Almost all of the signage, wall hardware and decorations of TechShop were made at TechShop.
• TechShop has Dream Consultants to help the less-than-mechanically-savvy inventor make what it is they drew on their napkins.
• TechShop tradition is for the most recently opened facility to train the staff of the next facility to open.  So, our Chandler employees were trained in Pittsburgh, and they will soon be training the DC employees.  
• Many of the products coming out of the classes are gear-shaped, to remind you of the TechShop logo.

Volt Drivers are the New Wise Minority: A Motion of Civil Disobedience

"When in the course of current events the constituency of the United States finds itself oppressed and hemmed in by that political body which governs us, and when the working people of this great country which I love so much finds itself with its backs against the wall due to circumstances and situations which are beyond our control, it naturally become the patriotic duty of every concerned American to stand up to and to oppose that which suppresses and restricts the God-given freedoms."

(excerpt from, “The Middle and Working Class Manifesto” by Rev. Paul J. Bern)

I have two gripes with Arizona state law, both pertaining to my beloved Chevy Volt.  Look, I get that laws take time to pass or update, and that the law lags behind technology.  But I'm about to start my third year with the state's first Volt, and nothing has changed for us Volt drivers (except that most of the free chargers now require payment that exceeds the cost of the equivalent amount of gas).  I have been active and vocal on these issues with my state government, to no avail.  With my new job at a very green company, my commute is the worst part of the job - 24 miles one way!  If I babied my car with very gradual acceleration and coasting, and did not use any A/C or heat, I might be able to stretch a full charge to cover the round trip.  However, by plugging in at work, I am able to drive more normally, use climate control and not have to worry about stopping at the store or ATM on the way home later.  I'm nearing 1900 miles on my current tank of gas.  

My first gripe with Arizona law pertaining to the Volt was that, technically, a non-plug-in Prius, Insight or Civic Hybrid was allowed to park in an electric vehicle charging spot, and technically, my car could be towed or fined for parking and plugging in.  This is a great example of where the intent of the law is defeated by the letter of the law.  In fact, if you read the verbiage closely, you'll realize that not even all-electric cars, which are issued the blue sky license place and legally allowed to drive in the HOV lane, are technically not allowed in the plug-in spots, because their license plates say "electric", not "alternative fuel".  So taken at face value, there is literally no OEM vehicle allowed to park in the plug in spot that can actually plug in.  

"28-876. Parking spaces for electric vehicles; civil penalty

A. A person shall not stop, stand or park a motor vehicle within any parking space specially designated for parking and fueling motor vehicles fueled exclusively by electricity unless the motor vehicle is powered by electricity and has been issued an alternative fuel vehicle special plate or sticker pursuant to section 28-2416
B. If a law enforcement officer finds a motor vehicle in violation of this section, the law enforcement officer shall issue a complaint to the operator or other person in charge of the motor vehicle or, if an operator or other person is not present, to the registered owner of the motor vehicle for a civil traffic violation.

C. A person who is found responsible for a violation of this section is subject to a civil penalty of at least three hundred fifty dollars. Notwithstanding section 28-1554, the civil penalties collected pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in the state general fund."

Source: http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/28/00876.htm&Title=28&DocType=ARS

So, when the chargers were free from cost, I openly and proudly broke the law by parking my cute Li'l Red in the charger spots, logged in to the chargers with my card and plugged my baby in.  My Volt even made the newspaper when it was featured at a press conference celebrating the first official Blink Charger in the state.  Just a few days prior, I had happily visited Monti's, where the new chargers were installed, had a delightful dinner with my friend while patronizing Monti's, and then gained enough electric to make it the movie theater and back (where I wouldn't have made it on just electric otherwise).  

This was my first gripe, but I was assured by Ecotality that this law wouldn't really be enforced and that I would be given no problem parking and plugging in.  Indeed, in the two years I plugged into the public chargers free of cost, I never once received a ticket, warning, or even a second glance from a police officer.

My second gripe is pertaining to the use of the HOV lane.  Motorcyclists and drivers with at least one other person in the car are allowed to use the HOV lane during rush hour.  Notice that I didn't say carpool, because technically you could have a baby in the car and that counts as HOV, even though clearly the baby would not otherwise be driving itself in a separate car. 

The intent of the law is, at best, stretched into being ridiculous.  Then comes along the blue sky license plates.  Initially, the only cars that qualified for alternative fuel license plates were the Prius, Civic Hybrid and Insight.  All-electric vehicles also get blue sky license plates, although, as pointed out above, they are marked as electric, not alternative fuel. Vehicles using natural gas can also qualify for alternative fuel plates.  All of these blue sky license plates are essentially free passes to use the HOV lane with only one person in the car.  This is great!  Except guess which car has never been qualified?  

It's not that the specs of the Volt don't murder the Prius, it's just that our government is too lazy to review and qualify any new vehicles.  They argue that this program was just a pilot program for 10,000 cars and that it was limited to those cars.  What they don't talk about so much is the fact that through attrition of those first 10,000, they were able to release a fresh batch of 2,500 plates, but did so for only the models that were previously qualified.  A new Prius could qualify, but a new Volt using all electric on its commute and averaging well over 100 mpg wasn't even considered.  I tried it anyways, just to see how far I'd get.  The DMV website was quick to stop my attempt, stating simply that my car did not qualify, just as good as a gas-guzzling SUV as far as they're concerned.  

(see 28-337. High occupancy vehicle lane; lane degradation; priority use and 28-2416.01. Low emission and energy efficient vehicle special plates; use of high occupancy vehicle lanes; civil penalty)

When I first got my Volt, I was working in Phoenix and my commute route would not have benefited much from the use of the HOV lane, so I generally didn't bother to play the civil disobedience card in this regard.  However, with my new, much longer and slower commute, I began considering it all over again.  Mind you, I am a law-abiding citizen, whose worst crime is speeding, which has vastly been reduced with my driving the Volt (since the car clearly suffers in efficiency at high speeds).  But when I'm stopped dead in traffic, and Prius after Prius zips by me in the carpool lane, it just makes me sick to my stomach.  

I get that the Volt isn't all electric, I'm not asking for it to be qualified as such.  But my commutes have been all-electric for the last three years, and will continue to be such with this new company and my ability to plug in.  To date, I have driven 50,685 miles, 32,064 miles on just electric.  The majority of the 18,621 miles on gas can be attributed to trips to Tucson and road trips; one of the great selling points of the Volt is that it can go further on gas, but commute on electric.  The car is great because it does exactly that.  

Anyways, if a baby in the back seat qualifies a driver for the HOV lane because he is carpooling, then I would argue the Volt, while being driven on electric, should also qualify.  Vehicles with the blue sky license plate are essentially pre-qualified, and while I think the Volt should be in this same category, I understand that it has not been.  But if a police officer sees a single individual in the HOV lane, pulls him over and then sees that he has a baby in the back seat, that's something different.  It's like the driver is being verified.  The cop would not issue a ticket, even though it was not clear prior to the pull over that the driver was carpooling.  Why can't a police officer similarly verify that I'm driving on electric, and send me on my way, ticket-free?  It wouldn't be hard; I could show him how much electric I've used since my last charge (and that I've used no gas), my current battery range, and my distance remaining to get to work or home.

This is another glaring example of where the intent of the law is defeated by the letter of the law.  A Prius, zipping along using gas (albeit minimal compared to other vehicles), and even a gas-guzzling SUV with two people in it (which could easily be more emissions and fuel consumption per person than efficient cars with no passengers), are welcomed by the state legislation into the HOV lane.  But a Volt, which the EPA gives a conservative 25 miles on electric per charge before switching to a fuel-efficient gas generator, is condemned to suffer the freeway with the gas guzzlers and not-efficient-enough cars.  

If the intent of the blue-sky alternative fuel license plates allowance in the HOV lanes was to encourage cheapskates to buy foreign-made cars, then I applaud the lawmakers of our state.  But if the intent was to encourage the use of greener vehicles, it missed the mark.  And since my letters to my state congressman have been unfruitful, I don't really see any other way to get my message heard, than to blog and post about it and to act on my obligation of social disobedience.  One can only hope that socially disobedient Volt drivers get pulled over so we can finally point out the absurdity of this whole thing.  No more will I sit in stopped traffic while ridiculous-looking Prii pass me by.

It would be an easy conversation.  I would simply challenge the officer, judge, and whoever else will hear me: What other car can go 1900 miles on 6 gallons of gas?  If I'm driving 50 miles per day on all electric, what really separates my car from the Nissan Leaf?  In what world is outdated technology rewarded and new technology penalized, even when it is better for the environment and the economy?  

"Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?"
(excerpt from "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau)