The Price of Convenience: Crossing Abbey Road and Excel’s Hidden Power

Have you ever stopped to consider the price of convenience? In our daily lives, we perform simple actions without giving them a second thought—walking, riding a bike, brushing our teeth. These are activities where effort is transmitted directly into results. When you walk, your body instinctively balances itself, and as a toddler, you learned that by falling forward, you could catch yourself and thus begin to walk. These are examples of direct, fundamental actions we understand at their core—what I’ll refer to as “first principles.”

Now imagine you need to cross a road. Picture yourself standing at Abbey Road in London, the iconic zebra crossing made famous by The Beatles. You know how to walk, and the crossing is there to ensure your safety. But what if, for some reason, rumors spread that crossing at a zebra crossing is dangerous? Maybe it’s due to a higher number of accidents or, perhaps more whimsically, fueled by conspiracy theories about Paul McCartney and the license plate on a nearby Volkswagen. Whatever the reason, this creates a new fear among the public—people start believing that it’s unsafe to cross the road, particularly at zebra crossings.

Enter the marketing machine. To capitalize on this fear, businesses would offer alternative solutions. Maybe Uber introduces helicopter rides to safely take you from one side of the road to the other. Or perhaps a tube station detour is marketed as a “safer” way to cross. Maybe you could even call an Uber to do a U-turn and drop you off on the other side. All these options, though innovative, are needlessly complex, expensive, and time-consuming compared to simply walking across the road.

This analogy brings us to the heart of the issue in technology and tools like Excel. In Excel, as in life, there are simple, direct ways to accomplish tasks. But somewhere along the way, we started believing that these fundamental solutions were either too difficult or too outdated, just like the fear of crossing a road. As a result, we’ve seen an explosion of high-level tools—Power Query, dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, and so on—marketed as essential advancements for Excel users. And while these tools have their place, they are often used to solve problems that could be tackled far more simply by understanding Excel’s core capabilities.

The Shift: From Power Users to Consumers

Excel was a powerhouse of customization and programmability in the 1990s. Back then, Excel users were power users—people who knew how to leverage the software’s full potential. You could create custom functions, automate tasks, and even manipulate elements of the workbook that weren’t accessible through the user interface. Excel was programmable down to the last pixel.

But around 10 to 15 years ago, the demographic of computer users shifted. The new generation of users didn’t approach Excel with the mindset of programmers or problem-solvers; they came to it as consumers. They expected push-button solutions, not tools that required understanding or customization.

This shift in user base led to a marketing-driven approach where convenience, not mastery, was emphasized. New features like Power Pivot and Power Query were introduced. Excel tables were marketed as a new innovation, despite being a cut-down version of data tables that already existed. Lambda functions became a big hit, even though custom functions had long been possible for those who understood Excel’s more advanced features.

These modern tools cater to a new audience—a generation that prefers pre-packaged, visually appealing solutions over understanding the first principles of Excel. Just like the helicopter ride across Abbey Road, these high-level tools often come at a cost: financial, time-related, or even in terms of risk and inconvenience.

The Cost of Convenience in Excel

When you use these new tools, there’s often a hidden cost. Like the person who calls an Uber helicopter instead of crossing the road, you might be using complex, high-level tools when a simpler, first-principles approach would have sufficed. The cost may not be immediately apparent, but it can manifest in wasted time, lost flexibility, or reliance on features that don’t scale well for larger, enterprise-level problems.

For example, the ability to access and manipulate data across systems and workbooks—a feature introduced in Excel in the 1990s—remains one of Excel’s most powerful capabilities. This bi-directional data flow allows you to create dynamic, scalable solutions that go far beyond what Power Query or dynamic arrays can offer. Yet, because these features don’t come with flashy marketing campaigns or social media buzz, many users don’t know they exist.

First Principles vs. High-Level Tools

In Excel, as in life, there are those who can confidently cross the road using a simple pedestrian crossing, and there are those who, due to fear or misunderstanding, resort to helicopters and taxis. The question is: which approach are you using in your work?

Excel, when used based on first principles, offers immense power and flexibility. It allows you to create solutions that are scalable, maintainable, and understandable. However, if you’ve been conditioned to rely on high-level tools for every task, you may be missing out on the true potential of the software. These tools, while useful, often come with limitations and costs—whether in the form of complexity, inefficiency, or simply the inability to scale for larger, enterprise problems.

The next time you find yourself reaching for a high-level tool, ask yourself: am I calling an Uber helicopter when I could just walk across the road?

Conclusion: The Choice is Yours

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to rely on flashy, high-level tools or whether you want to delve into the first principles of Excel and unlock its full potential. Just like crossing Abbey Road, the simplest solution is often the best.

If you can master the fundamentals, you’ll find that many of the new tools being marketed as essential are just expensive helicopters in disguise. And while they may be useful for some, they aren’t always necessary—especially if you’re willing to take the time to understand what’s really going on beneath the surface.

The price of convenience is a price we all pay, but with the right knowledge and approach, you can choose to avoid unnecessary costs and make Excel work for you in the most direct and efficient way possible.

A podcast by Hiran de Silva. Narrated by Charlie.