Blame it on my decade in I.T. but I just can’t muster the hatred most people have for spreadsheets. They have saved my butt too many times.

Take my current project as an example. I’m deep into a video project for a major client. They originally contracted with me to produce some animated videos to help explain their information security policies, after the first two videos were completed they asked … can you add sub-titles for a few languages? Most designers would have groaned and said sure but hated every single moment of it. When the total number of translations ballooned to 15 and the total video count escalated to 90 (presented in 6 different formats!) some designers might have actually preferred to just call it quits.

But I didn’t. Why? – A spreadsheet. Nothing special, just a small document I started to keep track of each video and it’s status. Without this simple document I would be confused and the client would be frustrated. Not bad for a document most people hate!

(details are blurred to protect client confidentiality)